Thirteen Hours
by Dark Sari
Summary: A girl, Danyelle, makes a wish that alters the Labyrinth. To avoid the Goblin King's wrath she must correct this problem within the time limit. Will she be able to get help? And will she make it in time?
1. Wish Granted

Disclaimer: The characters of Jareth, the goblins, Hoggle, or any other characters related to Labyrinth are property of Jim Henson Productions.We are in no way affiliated with this company. However, new and original characters, places within the Underground and evolution of the Goblin King are ours. We do not own any other miscellenous affiliations such as from shows, books, movies, etc. This story is for entertaiment purposes only. So please do not sue. The content of our fanfiction is written with a mature audience in mind, may contain scenes of violence, language; readers discration is advised. Comments are welcomed, enjoy!

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Chapter One: Wish Granted

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A hand reached out, searching around in the dark. Unknown music was faintly heard through headphones, the red glow of the numbers of the digital clock was the only light in the windowless room. A low groan escaped as fingers tried to find the stop button on the CD player. The player whirred to a stop as the button was pressed. Movement was heard as a figure removed the covers from their body and with a soft thump, the figure moved in the dark room and reached the door with a soft bang.

"Ow!" Nineteen-year old Stephanie muttered as she opened the door, she stepped into the hall/living room of her apartment. She held her foot in her hands, squinting at her toe in the sunlight from a small window to her right.

"Damn door..." she placed her foot back next to the other on the carpet and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Even though she had lived there for almost a year, she occasionally stubbed her toe on the door or walls of her dark bedroom. She ran her fingers in her tangled long hair and combed out the knots as best she can as she made her way across the living room and towards the small coffee table. She grabbed the TV remote, turned it on and switched it to the weather channel. She glanced at the weather and nodded at the nice temperature. 'Finally, a nice, warm sunny day,' she thought as she made her way towards the bathroom. She returned to the living room and sat down on one of the couches. She continued to wipe the sleep from her brown eyes as she drew up her knees to her chin. She then frowned at the hole at the bottom of her green, purple and white plaid pajama pants, which were a bit long for her, slightly covering her bare feet.

Stephanie yawned softly as she lightly scratched at an itch on her bare shoulder. Under her dark blue pajama tank top's straps, her bra strap slightly shown. It wasn't that early in the morning. It was nearly eleven. Usually she would have class on Tuesdays and only in the mornings, the afternoon would be off, but today the class was canceled due to the teacher's illness. She was glad to be off school for the day, the class wasn't really all that interesting on Tuesdays.

After searching through the channels for anything good to watch, she made her way to the tiny kitchen to pour a bowl of cereal. Cheerios was the first meal of the day; they crunched loudly in her mouth when she chewed as she watched a few minutes of a kid's cartoon. She would have preferred her usual cartoons but it was too early. She placed the empty bowl onto the coffee table, the spoon almost falling out, clinking against the ceramic bowl. She turned off the TV just as her landlady asked her to help her with something in the garage. Instead of getting dressed, which she was in no rush to do so, she put on a clean pair of white socks and her sport sandals and went upstairs to see the situation. Her landlady told her it was no rush so she can get dressed but Stephanie said it was all right, besides, it was nice out and she didn't really mind going out in her pj's. She also mentioned that she might go out later for a walk, after dressing of course.

Stephanie came downstairs with her sandals on after helping and continued with her daily routine, forgetting the sandals she had on. She turned on the lights in the bathroom and brushed her hair properly and grabbed her toothbrush for the last thing to do before getting dressed.

"It's going to be another boring day. Wouldn't hurt for something interesting to happen," she added as she looked at her reflection.

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A message box appeared on the screen, announcing that an "illegal operation" had occurred.

"Aw! You suck, yah fart!" The computer restarted itself. After being the third time of this happening, Danyelle finally gave up. She made her way to the kitchen to start the coffee machine, while playing with her light brown, shoulder length hair.

"God I hate my hair." She said, making her way to her room to get dressed. She then noticed a spider crawling on the floor of her bedroom.

"Ew! Gross!" She ran to her desk and picked up her flower paperweight and squashed the spider. Four times. She then looked at the very flat spider that was smeared across the bottom of her paperweight, the legs lightly twitching.

"Kay, now that's nasty." She scrunched up her nose at the mess. Taking a Kleenex from her dresser, she started to clean it. After returning the paperweight, she started to pick out a simple outfit: blue jeans and a gray, long sleeved shirt with the word "star" written across the chest. She glanced at herself in the mirror.

"Gee I wish I looked my age. I don't look seventeen." She tried to do something with her wavy hair but gave up and put it in a ponytail along with her dark blue visor. "Pff! Good enough."

In the reflection of her mirror, she located her empty cup of coffee and returned downstairs to the kitchen. The new house was quiet, having only moved a few months before. She was home alone for the day, her mother was gone to work and she had no school, other than the courses that were sent to her home. Danyelle poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. The girl then sat down at the kitchen table, lit up a cigarette, picked up the newspaper and started to read her horoscope for the day.

_**Aquarius** - Today will be an eventful day. Strange things will happen, often to leading to disaster. Be careful of wishful thinking and expect the unexpected. _

"Yah, like anything exciting ever happens to me." Danyelle said as she rolled her eyes.

She finished her smoke and let her part terrier/beagle dog Cheech out. She made her way to her birdcage to see if her bird, Snowflake was still alive."Gosh you're getting old." The girl commented, looking at her pure white budgie sitting upon the perch. Opening the cage door, she then placed her finger inside the cage and let Snowflake jump on it. She gave the bird a kiss and returned her to her home.

Danyelle smiled at the bird and heard the buzzer of the dryer from the basement, telling her that her laundry that she put in earlier was done.

"Oh kewl!" She ran to the basement to retrieve her clothes. Grabbing the basket full of her warm, dry clothes, she started towards the stairs when something caught her eye. She noticed a weird looking book sitting on top of an old, musty looking cardboard box, next to the stairs.

"What's that?" she put down the laundry basket, walked towards it and picked up the dark, black and white marble colored makeshift book. "Oh kewl, it's Steph's Labyrinth book!" she looked at it in excitement as she recognized the strange book and ran back upstairs with it, leaving the basket behind, forgotten, at the base of the stairs. Closing the basement door, she remembered how her cousin, Stephanie, had visited them for a week last summer and had been reading from it on the day that had a storm. She must have forgotten her book and someone had placed it amongst Danyelle's unpacked things.

While looking at the book cover, she made her way towards the couch. The book was obviously made by her cousin, pages printed on ordinary white computer/drawing paper, cut to the shape of the paragraphs and put together who knows how and with what. She sat down on the couch and opened the small book, glancing briefly at the few pictures of owls, a room with stairs, and then of course, the Labyrinth.

"Hmm, imagine if this "Underground" thing really existed..." she said while slowly turning the pages, one by one, glancing slightly at the phrases and paragraphs. "I wouldn't wanna wish someone away to see if all this is true." Danyelle said looking at the words that are to be said to wish someone away. "What if I wish for the Labyrinth to come here instead?" she said pondering the idea in her head. She laughed. "This is silly. I know it's not going to work." She put the book aside and let her dog back in, still thinking about the book.

"I don't know why I'm so weirded out by saying it, it's not like it's going to work anyways." She said, standing at the closed door, glancing at the book sitting on the living room table.

After a moment, she walked to the table where Stephanie's book was lying and picked it up, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Oh what the hell."

She opened it where the black ribbon bookmark was, just as Stephanie had left it upon the first confrontation of the Goblin King and the girl, Sarah; she flipped through the chapter that was saved, found the "right words" that Sarah had said to wish her baby brother, Toby, away. "I wish for the Labyrinth to come to our realm,"

She paused. "Right now."

The girl looked around, waiting for something to happen. She laughed at how ridiculous all this was. "See, I knew it wouldn't work." She put the book back down on the table and went to the kitchen for a glass of water to get rid of the taste of coffee that lingered.

Suddenly the house started to shake. "What's going on?'' she yelled as she ran to a doorway, along with her dog, Cheech. The house rattled even more as objects started to fall and break as they crashed upon the floors.

"Stop! STOP!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, covering her head as best she can while having a tight grasp on her dog's leash. She slowly started to cower down closer to the floor, her eyes shut tightly.

The shaking stopped as though her plea had been answered.

Danyelle got up slowly and stared at the damage that was done. "What was that?" She said, seeing if her bird was okay. Snowflake fluttered around nervously as she made a few attempts to calm her pet. "It must have been an earthquake." She shook her head, closing the birdcage. But she dismissed the thought, for it was very uncommon to get earthquakes in Northern Ontario. She glanced at the book. The realization struck her. "No way! It couldn't be!" She was frozen in place, staring at the odd book.

"I-I need to call Steph!'' she stuttered as she finally moved, rushed to the phone and picked it up. "What am I doing? She doesn't even have a phone." She put the phone back down. "Now what?" She asked herself, trying her best not to cut herself on the broken glass scattered on the floor. She got to her shoes and put them on. "Come on Cheech. Go outside, I don't want you to hurt yourself on all this glass.'' She walked to the back door, letting her dog out, that's when she noticed something in the tree, just outside her backyard fence.

"What is that?" Danyelle said as she tried to make out the figure. The figure then swung out of the tree and landed on the wooded fence closing in the backyard. A small laugh escaped from it.

"Holy shit! That looks like a-a goblin!" She quickly called her dog back in the house as fast she can, closed the door and locked it.

Pointing to the couch she said: "Cheech, go on the couch." She ran to the front door and locking that one as well. She leaned against the door, breathing heavily. "Oh my god, it worked!" As she thought of what she had just seen, she walked to the hall closet and got the broom. "God they're ugly." She started picking up all the glass and said repetitively: "What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?"

Putting the broom back in its place, she sat on the couch next to Cheech, playing with his floppy ears. "What am I gonna do?" she said again. "Oh man, where's Steph when you need her?"

Something passed by the window, catching Danyelle's eye. The movement was too quick when she reached the window. A single white feather with a golden tip floated gently down.

"What was that?" she said, looking out the window. She walked slowly towards the door and looked outside. "There's nothing there." She reached for the lock and slowly unlocked it. "Cheech, stay there." She slowly opened the door and peeked outside. Taking one step and then another, she finally reached the three stairs leading to the ground. Glancing to her left then to her right, she spotted the object, beneath the window, where a moment before she had been.

"A feather?" she walked toward it and picked it up to examine it. She shrugged. "It's kinda pretty. So from what did this come from?" she asked, looking up into the sky. She was in the front yard; a retirement's home was across the street. The houses were all connected to each other.

"Obviously the feather came from a bird. And don't you mean 'where?'" A deep voice said behind her, a strange accent faintly heard.

Danyelle gasped and quickly turned around, she backed away slightly. "You!" Danyelle pointed to the figure, eyes wide.

"What about me?" the Goblin King said. His wild blondish hair glistened in the sunlight. He was leaning against the house, arms crossed over his chest.

"I know who you are! You're the Goblin King, right? Jareth!" the girl exclaimed, still clutching the feather in her hand.

"Indeed." he said with a slight nod of his head.

She continued to stare at him for a moment. With a shake of her head, she snapped out of it. "Um, I'm Danyelle. Pleased to meet you!" she smiled and held her hand out to shake his.

"I already know who you are," he said looking at her hand. She slowly put her hand down with the look of embarrassment all over her face.

"Um, do you wanna come in?" she asked, nervously waiting for his response.

"No thank you." He moved away from the house, arms still crossed. "I am not here for a social confrontation but for other reasons. I believe you've already guessed what that is." He stopped, his back to Danyelle.

"Um, does it have something to do with the fact that I kinda, sorta wished the Labyrinth to our realm?" she said nervously, looking at the back of his head.

He turned around, his dark, knee high boots making a soft noise on the grass. Placing his hands behind his back, he approached the girl. "Indeed."

Her eyes widened as she swallowed hard. "I'm sooo sorry! I didn't think it was gonna work! I really wanted to see the Labyrinth but didn't wanna wish anyone away to do so! But I honestly didn't think it was gonna work! I'm sorry!" she kept insisting putting her head down, fiddling with her fingers.

The Goblin King lightly smiled at the girl's nervousness. "What said is said. No one truly believes it until they do make the wishes." He paused, regarding the girl before continuing and said it a different tone. "'I didn't mean it.' or 'You mean, it's real?' No one takes heed of words these days, or in this realm for that matter." He shook his head as he walked around her, goblins scattered from behind her and towards the streets. "Now, not only is this a predicament for you, but it is also one for me. No one had ever done a wish like this one."

"So, what do we do?" her eyes following the several goblins scattering around.

"We?" Jareth raised an elegant dark eyebrow. "Oh no my dear girl, I am entitled to do nothing. It was your wish; therefore a challenge must be given. But for this situation, which is rather odd, I shall see how we can resolve this." he slowly took a step forward to pass Danyelle.

Danyelle looked at him for a moment, and then replied. "Okay, but I really am truly sorry." she quickly looked into his eyes and put her head back down.

"Very well." He said continuing to pass her, his dark clothes lightly brushing against hers. He stood still, sorting out his thoughts. "I see no other way for the situation at hand. You must restore your realm to its rightful status. In order to do that is to basically traverse the Labyrinth and solve it. Unless you wish for the two realms to be forever mingled."

"I understand." Danyelle replied.

The Goblin King nodded and stepped onto the empty street, except for the few goblins that continue to create chaos around the buildings, trees and sometimes people. Jareth smirked slightly.

Danyelle followed quickly and looked at Jareth. "What are you smiling for?" A puzzled look came across her face as she stopped next to him.

"The goblins seem to really amuse themselves." he shrugged.

"Ah, I see." she said, looking at the goblins who continue to jump and yell. The goblins tested the material of vehicles, which they have no seen before, by prodding the vehicles with sticks, jumping on them, testing the glass to see how breakable it was. The Goblin King started walking down the street, stopped at one point and waited for Danyelle to catch up.

"Your journey starts here." he said, arms still behind his back. "I suggest you hurry. The time starts the moment you reach the Labyrinth. But this does not mean to take your time to reach it of course. Solve the Labyrinth in time, and this realm and mine will not be trapped together or fail and face the consequences. And I will make sure that if you do fail you will suffer the consequences." He threatened.

He gestured for her to pass him. Further down the blocks, more goblins were seen. The small town Danyelle lived in, stretched off a bit until far into the distance, the Labyrinth and the small figure of the castle can be seen.

Danyelle looked in the direction of the Labyrinth, squinting to make out the castle. She turned towards the Goblin King. "Um, okay." she took a deep breath. "Do you think I can get some help in this? I mean I don't really know about all of this. I don't know what to expect or what to do!"

The Goblin King regarded her for a moment, his face expressionless. "I suppose, considering the situation at hand. If this had been a normal wish, I would have disapproved and had let you figure it yourself. Very well, then."

"Oh great! Thanks!" she said with a huge smile on her face. "Are you gonna help me?"

Jareth looked at her, blinked once, a smile formed and he laughed.

"What?" she said looking at him, puzzled.

"I am not helping you, it would give the game away. Besides, that's not how things are done." He smiled, keeping his composure. He crossed his arms.

"Oh! Okay." she said looking slightly away, feeling embarrassed. "Then, who's gonna help me?"

"Whomever you want to help you," he said with a slight shrug. A sound made him glance behind him. Two goblins had jumped onto a car and now the alarm went off, causing them to block their ears. He shook his head with a slight laugh and returned his attention to Danyelle.

She kept her mind off the goblins and looked back at Jareth. "Okay. Can I get Steph to help me? She's my cousin. She knows, like everything about all of this stuff."

"Very well." he nodded and held out a hand, while a crystal rolled down the length of his arm.

"Woah! What's that?" Danyelle asked, looking at the glimmering crystal.

"A crystal, nothing more. But turn it this way, it will show you your dreams." He spun the crystal around in his fingers. "But in your case, it will bring your cousin here."

"Oh kewl!" she continued to stare at the crystal.

He tossed the crystal to Danyelle. "Wish for your cousin to appear, my sense for people are not with me at the moment. It will know which person you are speaking of."

She lightly fumbled but managed to catch the crystal and held it gently in both hands, careful not to break it. She looked up at him. "So, I just wish for my cousin? Aloud?"

"Yes." he replied, shifting his weight to his other foot as he crossed his arms again.

"Okay" she said, looking back at the crystal. She then said aloud: "I wish for my cousin Stephanie to appear."

The crystal glowed for a moment and vanished.

"Woah! Where'd it go?"

"It does not matter, the task shall be done." he gestured with a slight nod behind her a bit further down the road, to a figure standing in the middle of it.

Danyelle turned around and sees her cousin. She beamed.

"Stephie!" She shouted and ran towards her.

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I want to mention that there's nothing wrong with the way Danyelle speaks. It's her lingo. 


	2. Small World

Chapter Two: Small World

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Stephanie raised her head, her mouth half open with her toothbrush frozen a few inches from her mouth. She had just finished brushing her teeth and had set her glass on the sink, which was now obviously gone. She blinked and looked around at her new surroundings.

"Um. Riiiiiight! Where the Hell am I?" she was still in her pj's and sandals. Luckily it was a warm day as well, wherever she was. She lowered her arm and quickly turned to whoever was calling her name.

Danyelle stopped in front of her. "I can explain! I found your book and I didn't wanna wish anyone away to see the Labyrinth so I decided to wish it here instead, but I swear, I didn't think it woulda worked! So now I gotta fix it, and I asked if you can help me, cause your an expert in this Laby, maze stuff." she said all in one breath. She looked at Steph. "Hi!" and gave her a big hug.

Stephanie blinked, still confused to where she was as she was greeted by her cousin, who lived miles away, hours even. She finally recognized Danyelle. "Dani, slow down and repeat what you just blurted out would you? And where am I? And hi."

Her cousin laughed. "Okay. You're in Kirkland, I kinda, sorta wished the Labyrinth here. But I didn't mean to! I mean, I didn't think it was gonna work! But it happened! The Labyrinth is here! In our realm! And now I gotta fix it, and I'm asking for your help. Will you help me?" She said to her cousin, puppy dog eyes and all.

Stephanie looked at Danyelle. "The Labyrinth, here in K.L?" She looked around and sees not only the goblins running around, but the Labyrinth as well. The faint sound of a car alarm was heard. "So that can only mean..." she trailed off and glanced at the Goblin King, who had started to approach.

Danyelle turned and looked at the Goblin King as well.

"Jareth," Stephanie said, oblivious to a few more goblins running around.

"Ah, Stephanie. Small world is it not?" Jareth said gesturing with a hand. "I did not think you would be the same Stephanie that Danyelle had mentioned." He stopped in front of her, his greenish blue eyes fixed upon the girl. As he regarded her, he smirked and raised an eyebrow at her pj's. "A little late at waking up, aren't we?"

"Yes, well... I had a day off." Stephanie replied and tried changing subjects. She gestured to the goblins and the Labyrinth with her hands. "So it's true what Danyelle said? She did make the wish and it wasn't you that wanted to merged the realms?"

"I assure you all what your cousin has said is true, Stephanie." Jareth replied. "I really have no reason to merge any realms, not to mention, yours." he shrugged. "I only wish for her to complete the Labyrinth, which is her challenge, not different at all but the only reasonable way, so I can have my realm back completely."

The pj clad girl looked at her cousin.

"What?" Danyelle said with a defensive look.

Stephanie smiled. "Nothing. I just never thought you would actually wish for this."

"Well, I really didn't think it was gonna work!" Danyelle kept her head down.

"That's all right, I'll help you," Stephanie said with a laugh.

"Okay, kewl. Thanks Stephie!" Danyelle exclaimed, giving her a big hug.

Stephanie hugged her cousin back and turned to the Goblin King. "Now, the rules are the same as before? The time limit is the same?"

Jareth nodded. "The same as always. I have not changed the rules, only on certain occasions," he added with a smirk. "But for this situation it is highly unlikely that I would change them for your cousin to lose. Do you really think I would put my realm at stake? I'd rather much have my own realm thank you very much." he finished with a shake of his head.

"I wouldn't think you would. And besides," Stephanie said. "being stuck with us wouldn't be so bad." She patted his upper arm as she handed him her toothbrush and passed him by. He glanced at the toothbrush in his hand before throwing it away over his shoulder.

"I might just take my time." Stephanie said glancing over her shoulder to smile at the Goblin King's reaction. His expression said: "you-wouldn't-dare".

"You had better not be serious Stephanie." He warned unsure of the girl's comment

Stephanie turned around, making her long brown hair swing until it slowly settled at her back, the smile still on her lips. "And if I was?"

Silence from him made her smile even more with a silent laugh. She turned around and started walking down the street amongst the chaos and havoc the goblins have created since their arrival to the girls'realm.

Jareth gave the pajama-clad girl one last look and shook his head once with a soft laugh. He glanced at Danyelle, smiled quickly and turned around, in a few seconds he vanished into thin air.

Sirens blared out from afar, people gasped and cried out by the sights of the goblins and the sudden appearance of a castle at the edge of their town. Only those who did not seem to notice were two girls who made their way towards the tall walls of the vast Labyrinth.

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Just letting you all know that where the story takes place is somewhere in Canada, in a province called Ontario and in a really tiny town. So yes ladies, gentlemen and goblins, we are Canadians. 


	3. Start!

Chapter Three: Start!

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Stephanie sidestepped by a goblin as others continued to terrorize the small town. She almost laughed at a few goblins who tried to scare her, forgetting that she recently been to the Underground on several occasions. She had raised her eyebrows at them and just walked by. The only time she had stopped was to slightly roll up her pj pants so she wouldn't trip over and land on her face.

One woman tried hitting a few goblins with her purse as she tried to get safely into a corner store. Parents quickly pulled their children away from the grasps of the tiny creatures and ran into the several stores that were linked together; and into homes, barricading the doors behind them. She could just imagine the phone calls the small police station was receiving at this time. She smiled at the thought of it all.

The castle seemed out of place in the town but then again, so were the goblins in medieval like attire and who knows what else from the Underground that were running around; especially in this day and era.

The Labyrinth was situated at one edge of town, far from the middle of it where the stores and main offices were, it didn't seem as though the Labyrinth had crushed or covered any homes or buildings. Stephanie concluded that the houses were inside the vast maze in between section and walls and there would be a lot of confused and scared people.

"What a mess," Stephanie sighed to herself with a small smile. 'They're better off to stay in their homes and not get even more lost in the Labyrinth.' she thought. Stephanie and her cousin reached the center of town, the tall walls snaked amongst the edge of town, houses where they should be, of course weren't there as she suspected

The town residents, those who were not being attacked by the swarm of goblins yet; cluttered the streets, all chattering about the situation of the vision concerning their town. Children pointed to the strange creatures in the distance and tried to get the attention of their parents, hoping to get answers about the castle slightly hidden by the looming walls. Cars stopped in mid traffic and some had swerved onto the sidewalks, drivers gawked at the sights around. Luckily only minor bumper fenders and there were no serious injuries.

As she made sure her cousin was following, Stephanie squeezed her way through the crowd and on several occasions, had to ask a few people to move. Minutes passed and the police arrived at the scene, trying to get a handle on the strange situation at hand. Stephanie was surprised they actually came.

"Come on Dani," Stephanie said, lightly grabbing her cousin's wrist and helping her through the gathering crowd. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we end this mayhem. Although it did bring some excitement in this little town." She grinned with a laugh.

The outer walls were getting nearer as the two girls made their way more through the town, close enough to see the shape of the strange hedges alongside them. A few groups of people had gathered by the entrance, mostly teenagers and a few kids that managed to slip away from their parents. The entrance however they could't open, the double onyx doors remained shut tight. Several of the inhabitants tried to push on the doors even pulling, but to no avail; others tried to climb the high walls but came up with the same end.

The cousins were about a block away and were having trouble passing through. A road block was the problem, cars stalled from one building to the one across the main road, steam rose from a few cars that had run into each other, no other way was seen to get through. What didn't help was that the crowd grew more curious than frightened so there was also no way to go around without difficulty.

"This isn't gonna work Steph! There's too many people around!" Danyelle was looking at all the people crammed together who were trying to figure out what was going on. The chatter was almost deafening.

Stephanie thought for a second and rolled her eyes at herself at how the solution was simple.

Stephanie placed a foot on top of a tire of a red Grand Prix in front of her and stepped unto the hood . The driver protested and shouted profanity at the pj clad young woman. "Sorry!" she held out her hands in apology and quickly turned to Danyelle. "This way would do just fine." she grinned again as she helped her cousin up onto the hood and quickly made their way to the other side, leaving shoe marks on the angry driver's car.

"I can't believe you just did that!" giggled Danyelle as she looked at the angry man behind them who preceede to yell, shaking his fist at them.

"Sorry! I really am! " The nineteen-year old said over her shoulder as she quickly grabbed her cousin and ran off before the driver could come out of his car. "I know, but it was the only way." she giggled with her cousin.

"You know," Danyelle said, slowing her pace down "I don't even have supplies! Like water or anything like that! And I can see you don't either.

"Hmm, you're right." The entrance was just a few feet away. "But as you can see, I have no money on me." Stephanie added with a laugh and gestured to her pajamas. It did have pockets but it was obvious that she usually don't carry her wallet in her pjs.

"Well, why don't we just go to a store? I mean the workers just ran out and didn't bother locking up, I can pay them after right?" said Danyelle as she watched the people running in and out of the stores. She doubted that they would chase after shoplifters.

"I suppose." Stephanie paused. "All right. Let's make this quick." she was looking for any signs of police forces. "We'd better not get caught lest Jareth would have to get us and he won't be too pleased.

"Ok, I'll get supplies and you go get some clothes and proper shoes okay?" Danyelle said with a look of excitement. "I never stole anything before, but once I put a different price on some gum but chickened out." Danyelle giggled.

Stephanie laughed. "I'm good enough in this, supplies are more necessary. But I'll get a bag to carry everything though. And I haven't stolen anything either." she added.

"Ok, will do.

Stephanie ran across the street, jumping onto car hoods and ignoring the lewd comments. She headed towards a store that she knew would have at least a good enough backpack. She passed under stoplights that blinked from one color to the next.

Danyelle watched her cousin leave and turned around to do her own task. Moments passed before the seventeen-year old emerged from the store she had entered. She made her way to the clothing store she had seen Stephanie go in. "Hey Steph, hurry up!" Danyelle said, holding a numerous amount of water bottles, chips, chocolate bars and gum; while looking for any signs of her cousin. "I got loads of stuff here! I don't think we're going to run out! Man, I should do grocery shopping from now on!"

Stephanie pulled at the red and purple backpack; it was large enough to hold large college thick binders and many books. The goblin holding onto the other strap was persistent.

"Damn it! Let go!"

"No you let go!" it argued and pulled on its end. Stephanie got an idea.

"If you don't let go of the bag this instant. I will tell your king to throw you in the Bog of Eternal Stench. You think I don't know what that is? Jareth is a friend of mine and he wouldn't allow this." she waited with hands on her hips.

The goblin let go of the bag and scurried away, leaving the girl with the bag at her feet. She smiled, grabbed the backpack and hurried to the group of people that were rushing out of the store with items. She searched for her cousin. It only took a moment before she spotted her cousin, she was standing near the store she currently left.

"God, what took you so long?" Danyelle said, loading the items she had stolen into the bag.

"I had a goblin mishap." Stephanie rolled her eyes indicating the stubborn goblin who was now fighting over an item with another person. "This was the last backpack," she added as she closed the bag after Danyelle placed the items in.

"Ye gods, everyone is crazy." she laughed and asked who would carry the bag first.

"I should carry it, I got us in this mess." Danyelle replied and took the bag and threw it over her shoulder.

"All right." Stephanie nodded. "But I can carry it as well, once you get tired of it. And didn't you get anything healthy?" she laughed.

"Course I did! I mean this is the best stuff for a journey like this! Don't you think?" she turned to Stephanie. "You got your potato section, your sugar shock section and your gum section. What more do you need?"

"I suppose." Stephanie laughed again. "It'll be like a treat. But those are interesting food groups. I'm glad you got water and not a whole lot of juice." she started towards the Labyrinth again, her pace a bit quicker than before. "Let's get going before Jareth starts to wonder what's taking us so long to start."

Danyelle laughed as she ran next to Stephanie.

Finally after several minutes later of passing several groups of people, Stephanie was actually surprised there were that many people in the little old town; they've finally made it to the outer walls of the Labyrinth. The same group that she had seen before were still trying to get into the maze, a few managed to climb the top with help of others and sat onto the top of the tall wall, debating whether or not to jump to the other side, others were looking for another way in, circling what they can around the massive walls.

Stephanie watched, figuring how they can enter if these people cannot. "Through the entrance I'm sure," Stephanie said to herself. "Perhaps we have like a V.I.P access, but if I'm wrong we'll have to find another way in." she mused.

A few teenagers laughed at a few individuals that had tried to ram into the wooden doors all together. Stephanie turned to Danyelle."Let's show these people how it's done, shall we?

Danyelle nodded with a grin.

Stephanie started walking towards the familiar large double black doors. The carvings were the same as before, deeply etched into the thick wood. She smiled at the feeling she felt, it was the same as when she first encountered the Goblin King and his famous Labyrinth. It was all, thrilling.

As before, there were no handles but she still approached the doors, she studied the carvings more closely, hoping for them to give her some sort of clue.

"Hey! You can't go in there!" a blond haired, or rather bleached haired, boy shouted at her, breaking her search. He couldn't be more than sixteen.

"Why not?" Stephanie turned around to face the boy. She didn't recognize him, but it was understandable, she hadn't been in the town in years.

"Cuz' you can't. No one can, the doors won't open." He explained rather as a Mr. No-It-All. Danyelle grinned as though she knew a secret as Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest as he told her that they had tried several times. "So you see no one can."

"Oh really?" Stephanie said with her eyebrows raised, she smiled at her cousin. She turned back to the doors and took a step forward.

"Are you stupid or something? The doors are jammed shut, locked even." The boy said as he came closer, slightly shoving Stephanie away. To show that the doors are really closed tight, he pushed in the middle of them, of course they didn't move.

Stephanie had stumbled a bit backwards when she was shoved. She ignored the gesture and said: "I am not dense and I know exactly what I am doing." She pushed him away from between her and the entrance.

"Are you coming Dani?" she said as she gave the rude boy a last glance before continuing.

'This had better work or else I'll look like a fool.' She thought as she held out her hand. Her fingertips brushed against nothing but air. She smiled. She then turned to the boy and extended her thumb, index finger and middle finger in a sort of a wave gesture. This was her usual greeting/wave.

"Watch me." She smirked and passed completely through the doors as though it was only an illusion to her but perfectly solid to others. She listened and smiled at the few gasps and surprised remarks from the other side as she waited for Danyelle to cross over into the passageway. She smiled pleased that she had passed through the entrance and not looking like a fool.

As she waited, she could faintly hear the cries of help that were coming from within the large maze.

"A lot of confused people out there." Stephanie said to herself with a slight shake of her head just as Danyelle appeared slowly through the doorway, a look of amazement upon her features.

"Woah! That was kewl Steph." She turned around looked back at the still tightly shut doors.

"I know, it never seems to stop to amaze even myself," Stephanie nodded in agreement.

A thump was heard from the doors on the other side of the wall, followed by a small grunt. Stephanie let out a short laugh at the attempts of the bleached haired boy. She smiled at Danyelle who giggled.

"What the hell?" he shouted.

"We're the ones that are allowed to enter this time. He doesn't need a mass of people running around the Labyrinth, more than what are trapped in here." Stephanie said clearly enough to be heard by the boy and perhaps others.

"Who?"

"The Goblin King of course." Stephanie said a matter-of-factly. The boy muttered something but she didn't quite catch it. "Oh and make sure you don't"

"Ow! What the hell?" his voice was heard.

"encounter or bother the fearies. Never mind." She finished with a smirk.

What fearies? The same ones from that movie?À,À Danyelle said as Stephanie backed away from the wall and knelt to fix her socks.

Stephanie grinned. "The ones at the entrance that always bother Hoggle. they bite. They're not poisonous but it just stings like crazy."

Danyelle giggled but when she saw the long corridor with no end in sight, she frowned. She looked ahead of her "This isn't gonna be like, hard is it?"

Well," said Stephanie, rolling up her pajama pants again. "The Labyrinth is never easy."

"But, is it gonna be dangerous?" a worried look slowly poured over Danyelle's face.

If we're careful it shouldn't be. But there's really no way of telling." she smiled reassuringly to her cousin. "Don't worry, I'm sure the Goblin King will look after us."

"Yah" said Danyelle, rolling her eyes. "I don't think he likes me very much"

"Well," Stephanie said as she slowly started to walk. "your wish was something he was not expecting and it didn't seem to amuse him all that well."

"Well, I hope so." A moment later she said: "So," She looked at her surrounding, which were, of course, strange and new to her. The tall walls seemed to touch the sky. "do you know where you're going?" she asked.

"Nope." Stephanie confessed. "Deciphering the way to the castle is the only way I know. Although I do have the knack for picking at least a few right paths. It's sort of like a sense or something." she shrugged.

"Well," her cousin said looking straight at Stephanie "your senses better be top notch," Danyelle giggled.

Stephanie grinned again. She lightly ran her hand along the wall, trying to find a hidden passageway. The corridor seemed to go on forever, although she knew better.

Danyelle tried to help as she mimicked what Stephanie was doing. "How do I know what I'm looking for?"

"The same concept like the entrance, what looks like walls may not be there at all. Like an illusion." her footsteps made a pleasant sound on the labyrinthine earth.

"So if my hand goes right through the wall, I found a hidden passage?" asked Danyelle, brushing her hand against the wall back and forth until she had lost her balance and fell through the wall that was once in front of her.

"Aaah!" Danyelle screamed falling hard on the ground onto the other side, scraping her knee. "Ouch!"

Stephanie rushed to where Danyelle had stood a moment before.

"Steph?" shouted Danyelle as she quickly got up from the ground.

"You shouldn't be leaning on the walls," Stephanie half giggled, looking around for the exact location of her cousin's voice.

"Well," Danyelle started to panic. The thought of her being by herself made her a bit uncomfortable. "I didn't know it was gonna be like that! How do I get out?" she started to bang on the walls. "Steph! HELP ME!" Another thought occurred to her.

"Oh my god I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die with goblins or something! Steph! Stop laughing! It's not funny!" Stephanie couldn't help but giggle from the other side. Both hands were placed upon the rough wall, trying to feel her way.

While trying to laugh her fear away, Danyelle faced the sounds of Stephanie's giggles. "Steph you suck, you know that!"

"The thing is not to panic Dani, it's just one little mishap." Stephanie held in another giggle and blew a strand of hair away from her face, she listened to her cousin for her location.

"Me? Panic? Naw, I'm not panicking!" Danyelle said nervously, looking around her for some hint of an exit. She turned back to the wall, went down the corridor only a few paces, her hands upon the walls as well and got a finger right in her nose.

"Ew Steph!" Danyelle drew back, covering her nose.

Her cousin got the same disgusted expression on her face; her nose scrunched up and she quickly wiped her finger on the wall. "Ew, that's one thing that I hope never happens again," she wiped her finger on her pants for good measure. She then stepped into the new corridor and glanced both ways.

"Steph!" Danyelle gasped as she saw her cousin suddenly appear through the thick wall. It was a fascinating sight to see one pass through solid stone as though it was nothing more than air. She watched Stephanie look both ways before asking which way should they go.

"I suppose we can go left and see where it leads to," she replied as she slowly started to go down the path she suggested.

"Wait for me" Danyelle said, reaching the same pace as Stephanie. The corridor was less littered with branches and moss than Stephanie usually remembered; she continued to search for the concept of hidden passageways.

* * *

Light sand swirled around the girls' feet as they walked towards their destination; it remained upon the tips of their shoes.

"So, how long do you think this will take?" Danyelle asked.

"I'm not sure, let's hope not before the time runs out" Stephanie shrugged with a laugh.

"I don't really think this is all that funny Steph." Danyelle nudged her cousin's ribs with her elbow.

"Sorry," Stephanie lightly winced with a small smile. She entered another corridor; it was fairly easier to find them, she also noticed that they were deeper into the Labyrinth; there were no long corridors anymore, all were shorten and now winded in every single direction. Danyelle looked around and studied the many paths, the familiar worried look came across her face

"Stuff's gonna start to happen now isn't it?" Danyelle said and she wrapped her arms around one of Stephanie's arms, she continued to look around her, a bit more nervously now that they were this far; and in such little time.

"Uh-hmm. We got this far with nothing happening," Stephanie nodded. "I'm sure that we will encounter something and it will try to stop us. Jareth has to follow the rules even if it means putting his realm on the line."

"By the way, where is he anyways?"

"I assume he's in his castle. I think all he can really do is watch our progress." Stephanie replied pointed with her thumb at the castle behind her.

"Hmm." Was the only reply from Danyelle.

A shadow passed over the two girls, Stephanie looked up while Danyelle winced and was about to cover her head.

"Look out!" Stephanie yelled as she quickly jumped out of the way, she stumbled and fell back. Danyelle looked up, her eyes widened as a figure wavered in flight as it came soaring towards her.

The sound of a body crashing against another was heard.

* * *

* * *

Stealing is wrong goblins so please don't take our example. lol 


	4. The New Arrival

Chapter Four: The New Arrival

* * *

"Oof!" Danyelle said as she tried to figure out what just happened. The breath was knocked out of her and she was lying on her back. The first thing she noticed was wings, the purest form of white.

"Hey Steph?" she called out.

"Yeah?" Stephanie said as she got up to her feet, she brushed the sand off her clothes.

"A little help please. I'm kinda stuck." said Danyelle as she tried to move her arms. A long sleeve clad arm was across her chest, the hand rested upon her breast. "Uh, Steph? There's a hand on my-"

"I know! I see." Stephanie replied as she grabbed hold of the arm and started to lift the body off her cousin while Danyelle helped by pushing. The figure rolled over.

"Oh my God, it's a he."

"Well it was obvious considering where his hand was," Stephanie commented, rolling her eyes. She then neared the still figure and knelt beside him.

"Is he dead?" Danyelle asked but before her cousin could reply: "OH MY GOD! I HAD A DEAD BODY ON ME AND HE FELT ME UP!" she screeched as she quickly covered her chest with her arms.

"He's not dead you fruit!" Stephanie giggled as she shook her head. "He's unconscious."

"He's pretty." Danyelle commented. Stephanie turned around astonished for the remark at this situation; she was about to say something when she noticed blood upon Danyelle's shirt.

"Are you all right? You're bleeding."

"What? Where?" Danyelle said as she looked down and noticed blood on her left shoulder. "No, that's not mine." She replied after checking for wounds and finding none.

The man suddenly sat up with a gasp, he flinched and reached for his right wing, startling both girls; Stephanie fell back.

"Hi! It's okay, we're not gonna hurt you." Danyelle slowly walked towards him, she knelt down. "You're hurt." She started to pull at her sleeve and managed to rip it. He was watching the girl's every move with strange green eyes; he followed the movement of her hands, as he did, his eyes shined oddly in a silver shine. His black hair fell over his eyes, it was short and rather unkempt.

"I'm just gonna wrap this around your wound, okay?" she said hoping he would understand, she held out a hand and waited for him to acknowledge the gesture.

He nodded and removed his hand from his wing.

"So you understand English eh?" Danyelle said as she started to carefully wrap his wing.

"Yes." His voice was gentle and soft.

"So what's your name? Where did you come from?"

"My name is Davrin, I come from the Ground Hopes. Our village was attacked, from what I cannot say. I managed to escape, and I've been flying since. There are no survivors"  
Danyelle by this time had finished dressing the wound. "Oh my God, that's horrible." Stephanie nodded in agreement. Danyelle moved closer to Davrin. "Where are you heading now?"

"I know no place of where I can go, only that I had to get away. It was my only chance for survival." He replied.

"Wow, I'm really sorry about your home."

He nodded sadly. His mood shifted as he glanced at both girls. He asked: "Where does your journey lead you?"

"We're traversing the Labyrinth to reach the castle in the center of the Goblin City, in order to stop two realms to be forever merged." Stephanie said as she stood up.

Danyelle quickly got up and stretched out her arm to help Davrin up as well. He winced slightly as he was helped to his feet. As he looked around to his surroundings, he brushed light sand off his dark green shirt; the ties at the top of the shirt was untied, he did the same for his brown fitted pants. He adjusted a belt that held a sheathed sword and thanked Danyelle for dressing his wound.

"Not a problem." said Danyelle as she glanced at Stephanie and gave her a big smile. "By the way, I'm Danyelle and this is Stephanie."

"Pleased to meet you both." he nodded. "I hope that I am not keeping you from continuing your journey."

"We don't mind at all." Stephanie replied. "A person's well being is relatively more important."

"You're right and I thank you." Davrin said.

"How are you feeling for walking?" Stephanie asked Davrin. He replied that he was all right. "I don't want to sound prude but if you don't mind, we have a time limit and we must continue with our quest."

Danyelle walked to Stephanie and whispered in her ear: "Can we keep him? Can we? Can we? Can we?"

"All right! All right! Perhaps you should ask him." Stephanie said with a laugh as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Danyelle walked to Davrin and asked if he would like to join them in their quest. Seeing that he had nowhere else to go, he wouldn't mind accompanying them. Therefore he accepted their offer.

"You wouldn't happen to have some water on you would you?" He asked Danyelle noticing she was carrying a bag.

"Well of course I do!" said Danyelle with a smile, fiddling with the zipper of her bag as she retrieved the water. He accepted the bottle and drank over half of it.

"Thank you." Davrin said as he handed the bottle back to her.

"Wow, that's a pretty nice necklace you got there." Danyelle noticed the pendant around his neck. It was a finely cut jewel, white in color, catching the sun's glare every once and awhile.

"It's a vow. I give it to the one I love." he said, looking himself at the intriguing piece of jewelry.

"Oh." Danyelle said, she wondered if his 'love' died along with his village.

"But, I haven't found the one yet," he finished as he let go of his charm

"Oh!" Danyelle said with a mischievous smile. Stephanie caught the smile upon her cousin's face and laughed softly.

* * *

* * *

Chapter 5 is still getting worked on and the rest of the chapters are slowly going to get going again. But it's all I can post up for now so enjoy of part 4 that you can.


	5. On the Road Again

Chapter Five: On the Road Again

"Hey Steph, how much more time do we have left?" Danyelle said looking at the sun.

"We have time left, although we shouldn't be overconfident with our progress." Her cousin replied as she pushed upon a wooden door and stepped into a quiet forest. The door stayed open until Danyelle and Davrin stepped through.

The past few hours they had made their way through various sections of the vast maze: hedged sections, forests, stone; with no creatures in sight. The girls had concluded that most of the Underground inhabitants had run outside the Labyrinth.

"Can we have a break? I'm getting tired and hungry." Danyelle broke the silence. Stephanie agreed to the suggestion and sat next to a fallen tree. Danyelle plopped down not too far away from Stephanie with a happy sigh. Davrin sat down next to Danyelle, he made sure that he wouldn't bother his wing by accidentally sitting on it. Danyelle had already dug into her bag, pulled out small bags of chips for everyone, and handed her cousin a water bottle.

Davrin watched the girls as they opened their food packets and started to quietly eat, he mimicked their movements and slowly chewed the strange food. He actually enjoyed the new product that he quickly finished and said his appreciation.

Danyelle glanced at Davrin's wing. "So, how's your wing anyways?" she asked, shoving a few chips in her mouth.

Davrin put his hand on his wound and replied, "It's almost healed." Both Danyelle and Stephanie looked at each other in confusion.

"What do you mean, almost healed?" Stephanie said looking at his wing.

"Most wounds would take several days to heal, however in my case they take only hours."

Danyelle quickly looked at Stephanie in amazement. "Wow that's pretty kewl!"

"It's interesting how you could heal so quickly." Stephanie said as she passed her empty potato bag to Danyelle. Danyelle put away everything and started to get up. Stephanie did the same and stretched; her arms over her head, her fingers extended and ended up poking the Goblin King in the eye.

"Ow! For bloody hell!" Jareth cursed, one greenish-blue eye closed. "You should really watch on how you stretch Stephanie!" he snapped.

"Well you shouldn't appear where you would get poked in the eye!" Stephanie shot back and stuck out her tongue at him. He mumbled under his breath and blinked until his vision was back in focus.

"Would you mind telling me why you have a Sherpa with you?" Jareth asked doing his signature pose: crossing his arms over his chest. "A Sherpa?" Stephanie asked.

Danyelle glanced from Stephanie to Jareth. "A whadda--whadda?"

Jareth sighed. "A Sherpa." He repeated. Stephanie and Danyelle still looked confused.

"It's the name of my kind," said Davrin. 

"You are a little far from home." The Goblin King commented as he stepped closer to the winged man.

"I'm Davrin. My land was attacked and I managed to escape." Davrin replied.

"I know who you are." Jareth said, his eyes then narrowed in thought. "By whom was Eslin attacked?"

Davrin shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't see who it was, I was only told to flee the village."

"With all the excitement of the realm merge, I hadn't even sensed any dilemmas. Are there any survivors?"

Again, Davrin shook his head and he looked away sadly.

"Bloody hell," Jareth said with a shake of his head. "My condolences. Believe me, it would have been prevented if I'd known." He paced around with a hand under his chin in thought.

Handling this situation on top of the current one was something he did not need. Stephanie assumed that he must have dealt with multiple predicaments before.

Davrin wondered why the deep concern for his slaughtered village by a man who seemed to be a messenger of some sort; due to the sickle shaped emblem on the jacket; the mark for the ruler of the Underground. The look of authority upon the blond man made Davrin think that he was important, like a general or a lord. There might be a chance that this man can answer his questions.

"Do you remember anything before the attack? Any details would help me, even the slightest." Jareth finally said as he stopped in front of Davrin.

Davrin shook his head then stopped short. "Unless..." he trailed off. "There was a meeting today amongst my father and the men of the village. I'm not quite sure what the discussion was about but soon a man shrouded in a long hooded cloak arrived and entered my father's household." he thought back for a moment, walking a little down the path. "The meeting had ended rather quickly and the villagers and my father, were furious. The figure was very calm and said something to my father almost in a hushed tone, I didn't catch what he had said; but the man turned around and left the village. Hours later, the village was attacked."

He turned around to face Jareth. "Do you think that this man was responsible for the destruction of my village?"

"That might be a possibility," Jareth replied. "Did you get a glimpse of the figure's face?"

"He was older than my father. I did not see his hair due to the hood, but what I remember clearly was his eyes; the coldest shade of grey I've ever seen."

The Goblin King's face showed a small hint of curiosity. "Thank you. I'll personally look into this more." He paused. "Your presence is welcomed here. I shall arrange a room for you. Once you are prepared, you may go to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth. It shouldn't be a problem for you." he lightly pointed to Davrin's wings.

Davrin smiled at Jareth's smirk.

"Now, you must excuse me, I have important things to attend to." Jareth turned around and started walking down the path.

'There's too much worry in his usual expressionless face. Something's up.' Stephanie glanced at the Goblin King.

Her intense gaze caused him to stop dead in his tracks. How much did she know? He figured she knew that the attack on Eslin was just the beginning. Jareth gave the girl a small smile to show that it was nothing. A moment later, she returned the smile. He then continued down the path and vanished.

It was silent for a moment, perhaps to respect the loss of Davrin's village.

"We can be like your guide to the castle," said Danyelle brightly, sensing that it was a good time to break the silence.

"It would be an honor Danyelle. Thank you." Davrin said with a smile.

The group encountered no puzzles or riddles yet but they had some difficulty with the hidden passageways; they were either stuck continuing in straight lines or ending up in a loop. On a previous encounter, Stephanie had suggested going back the way they came to escape the loop or even to walk backwards but she assumed it wouldn't work this time around. Jareth had told her once that the Labyrinth was ever changing and she supposed the rules always remained constant. But even in the Labyrinth, there must be a way to overcome obstacles.

Danyelle and Davrin were having a conversation, she was explaining how the cousins got to the Underground and what their quest was. Stephanie walked ahead of them and having been here so often perhaps had given her some sort of skill; it almost felt natural.

They encountered a few strange creatures, a few were mixes of animals that Danyelle and Stephanie knew, and if Jareth had appeared, he would have probably informed them what the creature were and if they were friendly. The creatures looked at the group and then paid them no mind.

"From the mortal realm eh?" Davrin mused. "I knew you were not from here or any of the villages nearby but I would have never thought--I've only heard tales of mortals of here and the other realm traversing the King's puzzle." he shrugged. "Rumor has it, not everyone solves it in time, only in rare cases."

"I've been through twice already." Stephanie said facing them and slowly walking backwards.

"Truly?" Davrin asked.

"Yes." Stephanie nodded as Danyelle asked her when. "About three years ago. A friend, Chantal and I came across a lost crystal and ended up here."

"I thought, as the legend tells us, that you had to wish a person away in order to arrive here." he continued to muse.

"That's how it all started right?" Danyelle asked. "Like in that movie."

"Mu--vee?" Davrin said, his eyebrows raised.

"Er, moving pictures with sound displayed on flat surfaces." Stephanie tried to explain an object of their technology but ended up explaining theatre screens.

"Fascinating," his green eyes glittered with a hint of silver.

"At first, that's what I had thought," Stephanie resumed. "But neither of us made a wish. Either Jareth wasn't getting enough wishes, he started a new method or he's slipping."

"Haven't you asked him? I'm sure you saw him during your travels?"

"With things happening here, I haven't thought about asking him." Stephanie replied to Davrin's question.

"Oh?" he asked intrigued. "What sort of occurrences"  
"Well, the adventures that I've had," she then started to explain the series of events she encountered before meeting up with her cousin. She explained how a boy named Paul had inadvertently taken over the King's throne and her own attempts that almost succeeded.

"Holy crap!" Danyelle exclaimed. "So you were able to take over like that Paul dude"  
Her cousin shrugged. "They're trying to figure it out." she left out the details of the powers being her own; it was too strange to mention it, even if it was a couple of months ago. "Er, something like that yeah."

"I'm surprised the Elders haven't taken drastic measures for that close encounter."

"I wasn't--myself. And I think they understood that I was under some form of control."

Davrin nodded understandably.

"It's just too weird." laughed Danyelle. Her cousin joined her, agreeing.

"I know!" Stephanie giggled. "I guess that gives me some experience." she laughed. Davrin smiled politely.

"You know, Jareth doesn't look like the singer from that movie." Danyelle commented suddenly.

"No, he doesn't. I suppose David Bowie looked close enough to play the part and a lot of people who travel expected the same; even me at one point." She paused. "Anyways," she trailed off to change the subject. It was not long before they reached another dead end; they started to turn around and saw that the hedge of the maze section they were in, had silently completed the square room. "Damn," Stephanie muttered. Usually when the Labyrinth prevents you from going back was to solve a riddle or conundrum.

"Steph?" Danyelle asked as she looked around nervously.

"Yeah?"

"What's going to happen?" her cousin finished. Stephanie was busily inspecting every inch of the boxed room to find some clue to escape. There was a wooden door as though it grew from the hedges. The doorknob was the only non-wooden item, made from a tarnished metal to blend in with the dark wood.

"I'm not quite sure," Stephanie finally replied. She got up from her knees and dusted off her palms. "There's got to be a way out. Every obstacle has an exit." Or so she hoped.

"I'm glad he let me have help." Danyelle said relieved.

"I think he would have gotten you help even without interfering the rules." Finding none, she crossed her arms over her chest, frowning in her confusion. If there was no way out, she wondered if Jareth would bend some more rules to help them.

"What now?" Danyelle asked. Stephanie shrugged.

"I can't find anything that can help us and that door is still locked. There must be a key. Why else would a door with a keyhole be here?" she mostly asked herself. She actually stood in front of the door and studied the structure. She turned the doorknob, it did nothing but squeak as it turned and rattled loosely. She even tried to use a thin broken branch to try to pick the lock. "Bah!" she muttered and turned to the others. "Find anything?" she asked. Danyelle and Davrin were busy double-checking for anything Stephanie might have missed.

"We're gonna be trapped here forever!" groaned Danyelle, which made Stephanie smile a little.

"We will figure something out," Davrin reassured Danyelle. He shook his head to remove the hair from his eyes. A small smile played on Danyelle's face as she watched this simple gesture.

"Yah, I guess." she said and turned to Stephanie. "Maybe some help?" she asked.

Having no way to contact Jareth; other than the crystal that was given to her--which she didn't have, she used the method she thought other travelers used before her; she called upon the Goblin King.

She waited. Any moment he would appear and he would help them decipher their dilemma. She called again. "Jareth!" she implored a bit louder. Davrin opened his mouth to say something but decided to remain quiet. She had lost sight of the castle and she was now looking around as she waited.

Nothing.

Stephanie let out a frustrated sound. Disappointment was on all their faces. Perhaps the Goblin King was busy with the other people trapped within the Labyrinth.

"So now what do we do?" Danyelle asked, almost exasperated. Her cousin, Stephanie, was trying the doorknob for a third time, a bit more curiously.

"We use the door." Stephanie said simply. She pulled up her pajama pants and fixed her tank top over her pants.

"How?" Danyelle asked, she turned to Davrin who only shrugged.

"By opening it." Stephanie replied, being a smart ass.

"Well duh. I knew that, but how exactly?" Danyelle rolled her hazel eyes.  
"I'm going over the wall," Stephanie said and started to find a grip amongst the hedges. After a moment of struggling, she managed to start her climb.

"But Steph--" Danyelle started.

"I'll be right back!"

Davrin neared Danyelle and they watched Stephanie climb up the bright green hedges. They heard her mutter under her breath throughout her progress as branches scratched and poked at her fingers. She also had trouble placing her sandal clad feet in the perfect hedge walls. Soon she finally reached the top of the wall, sat on the ledge to catch her breath before disappearing to the other side. They heard her feet hit the ground as she landed.

Davrin looked down as the doorknob rattled slightly as Stephanie took hold of it. The doorknob squeaked in protest again as it was turned and the door opened inward.

Stephanie peeked in. "Let's go." she said, obviously quite happy to be free from the impossible box.

"Good job Steph." Danyelle beamed.

"Yes. I was worried we would be trapped there until the King does decide to help us." Davrin said, leaving the door open.

"I'm sure he would have sent someone...eventually. He's not going to leave us stranded, not while his Labyrinth is in jeopardy." Stephanie reminded as they walked down the corridor, hoping to find another pathway, dreading another dead end.

Barely a few minutes had passed before a deep rumbling was heard. It was followed by the ground shaking, causing loose bricks to fall and break upon the ground; birds flew off and creatures scattered.

"An earthquake?" shouted Danyelle over the rumbling. She grabbed hold of Davrin before she would lose her balance. Stephanie was about to agree, perhaps their realm was rejecting the Labyrinth like a body rejecting an infection, but the sound of stone scraping against stone stopped her. The group stood frozen in the middle of the corridor as new pathways, corridors and sections were being formed; the Labyrinth was growing. They jumped out of the way as a stone wall zipped past them. The scene continued a little further down the corridor. All three hoped they wouldn't be trapped into a box again.

The rumbling subsided and the Labyrinth had finished its changes and expanding. When they were satisfied that no one was hurt or that they were trapped in another impenetrable dead end or separated, they continued to traverse the vast maze.

"Aargh!" Stephanie yelled breaking the silence, clearly annoyed and frustrated. "I can't believe this!" she said in some kind of disbelief.  
"What? What is it?" Danyelle asked, almost startled by her cousin's sudden outburst.

"I just realized that with the Labyrinth changing, who knows if we're going in the right direction? Plus, we were making progress; now we're suddenly as far as when we started." she said exasperated. She sighed deeply. "Sorry." she then noticed that her rant brought down the others.

"Nah. It's okay. We'll just restart." Danyelle said. "I thought you loved this place."

"That's right." Davrin agreed.

"I do." Stephanie laughed. "It's the time I'm worried about." She then had a mischievous gleam. "Unless we let it be and wait so that the Labyrinth stays here."

Danyelle giggled. "I think the Goblin King would be more pissed at you than me at that rate."

"And?" Stephanie giggled as well. Davrin looked amused but he shook his head.

Back to business, Stephanie was scanning the area as they walked, to use the castle an anchor. She noticed that they were indeed far from reaching it, however, she could not see the beginning of the Labyrinth, which was a good sign. What Danyelle pointed out, was a view of the top story of a house. It did not take them long to actually reach it; the white paint was yellowing and chipping with age. The late afternoon sun shone upon the roof and reflected off the glass windows. The curtain was closed shut, as though to hide the view of being trapped in a strange place. Stephanie noticed when they stood in front of the house, that it was merged with the Labyrinth, as though it actually sprouted from the walls. The stone blended together with the stucco almost seamlessly.

'Interesting,' Danyelle thought. She remembered seeing the house before, not knowing anyone personally of course and that there was supposed to have neighbors next to it, but with the merge and now the Labyrinth's morphing, they were separated. The building seemed not to have had any damage from the "earthquake". 


	6. When Worlds Collide

Chapter Six: When Worlds Collide

* * *

"Do you think we should knock to go see if they're okay?" asked Danyelle.

"Maybe." Stephanie nodded. "Just to let them know not to worry."

"Good idea." Davrin agreed. "I presume they are not accustomed to this?"

"No. Our realm has long past believing in fairytales. The movies we have are just fun tales, nothing more." Stephanie stopped at the doorway. "This doesn't happen everyday, so it's difficult for them to understand." she did a small rapid series of knocks upon the beige iron-like door. "Hello?" she inquired when a silent moment has passed. She tried again. When she again received no answer, she leaned over the edge of the steps and peeked into a gap in the curtained window. Movement caught her eye and she lightly tapped the window. "Hello?"

A small frightened scream was heard when she had knocked, then someone peeked out of the curtains.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare anyone." Stephanie said loud enough to be heard over the closed front window. The curtains were drawn back to reveal a man, who looked relieved. "We just wanted to make sure you were all right." she continued.

"Yes, we're fine." Soon a woman and a dark haired teenage boy appeared next to the man. "We're just a little confused of what's going on." he chuckled nervously.

'I'll bet.' Stephanie thought and smiled politely.

"Do you have any idea to what's happening?" the woman asked.

"Somewhat," Stephanie replied. "but it's a long story and we haven't much time to explain." she stepped down from the steps.

"We suggest you stay inside until all of this is over," Danyelle said.

"Wait a minute! You can't leave us here!" the woman said frantically. "Didn't the police come with you? We're stranded in Lord knows what!"

"Please remain calm. The police are handling what they can." Stephanie turned to the others and gave them a the-authorities-are-useless-at-this-point look. "I agree that you stay inside."

"You might get lost," Danyelle added.

"Sounds to me like you are on a mission." the man gave the group a quizzical look. Stephanie looked back again; Danyelle adjusted her visor and Davrin had previously lowered his wings. If the man saw a hint of them, or the way Davrin was dressed differently, he did not say.

"Let's say we have a better grasp to what's going on, and we might be able to do something." Stephanie replied. The man nodded. She wasn't sure if he fully comprehended what she meant. There was no time to go into full details.

"Steph?" Danyelle inquired. "Shouldn't we get going?"

Stephanie agreed. She then turned to the family crowding at the window. "I'm sorry to leave you here but do stay inside, it's not too dangerous but there's so much chaos out there." she smiled.

The group waved back to the man and the boy; the woman was still looking frantic.

"Well that was something," Stephanie mused. She didn't know what was to be expected once they would reach a trapped house or a wanderer. They were confused naturally; perhaps she expected a different outcome. She was glad that it passed calmly.

"Yeah," Danyelle agreed.

"I wouldn't doubt we'll be meeting up with more people." Stephanie laughed.

"That would be kewl to see someone I know." Danyelle also laughed.

"Have humans truly lost the belief of seeing magical realms?" asked Davrin.

Danyelle shook her head. "Not all. Time has changed and our realm is very different from yours, we're not used to weird things happening."

"I see." Davrin nodded. He had noticed their habitats were built differently and their garments but he hadn't realized there was a big difference between the two realms. "I wonder if they would remember once our quest has come to an end."

"I don't know. The Goblin King might do a memory wipe, but there's so many people…" Stephanie trailed off. She finally shrugged.

"I hope we make it in time," Danyelle frowned.

Davrin squeezed her hand. "Do not worry Danyelle. We are making good progress and we shall find a way to solve this dilemma." he reassured her. Danyelle seemed to blush as he gave her hand another squeeze.

Stephanie had started to walk backwards, not to solve a problem but to change scenery; also, she was tired of always turning around to respond through their conversation. Her hands were on her head, her fingers intertwined. The afternoon sun was still shining fiercely upon them, making more stops in the shade that they wanted. They reminded themselves that they were only going to stop if they needed to, for they had to make haste. The sun barely tanned Stephanie's usual pale skin--or as her mother called "vampire skin"--it only brought out her childhood freckles across her nose. Danyelle took another sip from a water bottle; it was a warm day indeed. She pushed her sleeves passed her elbows again, she actually wished she had worn a t-shirt instead, but who knew she was going to walk a--billion miles--long distance. She placed the bottle back in the packsack that Davrin held.

"Thanks." said Danyelle and returned the brightly colored bag upon her shoulders. They had taken turns to bear the half-empty bag.

Sirens could still be faintly heard outside the Labyrinth. The group wondered what the authorities were doing to handle the unnatural phenomenon. Sections of the Labyrinth shimmered in and out of the realms as though it didn't know which realm it belonged to. The three of them passed a couple of merged houses before entering a forest section of the maze. The latest house they came across was not merged with the maze; instead, it was surrounded by large trees. The first, they hadn't seen movement from inside; the curtains were shut and windows were barricaded with things they had found to keep whatever they were frightened of, out. With the second, they spotted people peeking but staying clearly inside, not wanting to venture out or ask the group questions, which was just as fine with them; they weren't going to chat with every house they came across.

Noon came and went and it was into the late afternoon before they saw movement ahead. They had expected to see more of the lost wanderers who either had ventured out of their homes or had managed to slip by the entrance and the goblin guards that were sent out to control the situation. As they neared the figure, they heard soft humming. The figure turned out to be an odd creature that lightly bobbed its head in time with its song.

Stephanie groaned as they were not three feet from the creature.

"What?" asked Danyelle.

"Not this bird again!" Stephanie said almost exasperated, even though the creature had done nothing yet. Just as she remembered, the bird still had the bright colors of orange, pink, red, some yellow, looking like some form of Firey. She wasn't sure who evolved from who or if they were completely different creatures from one another. "Let's hope its going to be helpful," Stephanie muttered. She stopped herself. Even though it was confusing, it had helped her not too long ago when she had been bitten and had some odd Labyrinthine poison coursing through her veins. "This bird is just like the Cheshire cat from 'Alice in Wonderland'." she explained. "Speaks only in riddles." she explained further to Davrin's confused expression.

"Water, water everywhere," it trilled lightly.  
"--and not a drop to drink I suppose?" added Stephanie. The bird had actually stopped bouncing its head from one foot to the other like a soccer ball.

"No." the bird creature replied. "Just water, water everywhere."

"Right." Stephanie muttered, seeing that it was not being very helpful today.

"Okay." Danyelle said. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Who knows?" Stephanie sighed.

"A premonition perhaps?" suggested Davrin.

"It could be. But it's really hard to figure out if it is really." Stephanie shrugged.

"Noisy birds," it seem to complain. Both Danyelle and Stephanie looked up. The creature obviously meant the helicopter that was passing overhead. The group waited for more but the odd Firey like creature started singing a song in a different language altogether.

"Is that it?" Stephanie asked.

"What's it?" it asked.

"All that you're going to tell us?" Danyelle put in.

"Tell you what?" it continued asking, oblivious.

"Bah!" Stephanie said annoyed and started walking away, past the bright colored bird. "See?" She said, she didn't care if it had saved her, it was still annoying. "I sometimes wonder," she entered a stone section, leaving the riddling bird to its own amusement. Davrin and Danyelle followed close behind.

About an hour had passed--or felt like it, Stephanie couldn't tell, her watch was on the fritz again; it didn't matter in the Labyrinth and apparently, even with the merge it had stopped--when they came across a new dilemma.

Water.

* * *

Still working on Chapter 7, though it's pretty much typed up, just waiting for a few things to fix with Dani.

Goblingirl/ggurl: to reply to your comments, I am updating as fast as I can. I'm updating as soon as the chapters are done (though I was pretty sure I had already posted up till chapter 7 - shrugs-) and I haven't thought about the relationship between the characters...it all depends on how the parts/stories goes. Leave an email addy and if you do have more questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

Sari


	7. Chapter 7 still untitled

Chapter Seven:

* * *

The group stood still for a few moments; each member was trying to assess the situation. 

The stone walkway ended quite abruptly. Water lapped at the edge. The water was a dark blue, even with the sun reflecting off the liquid surface. It stretched to the left and right much like a large lake with a shore on each side. Fortunately, it wasn't too far across, thirty feet at most. Even though, rather than going around the lake and finding the correct path through the puzzling maze--which was surrounded by hedges or stone ends--they wanted to find any other means to get to the other side.

Danyelle couldn't see the bottom nor any bridges or anything that was useful to help them. She certainly didn't feel like swimming across. "So what now?" she asked aloud.

"It's obvious we can't go around, even inching our way would be hard. And we can't go back lest it takes us longer and I don't think that we have that kind of time." Stephanie frowned at her frozen watch once more.

"Nor any other way than to swim across." Davrin put in. He stood next to Danyelle, who smiled. "Unless I fly and carry both of you over,"

"Unfortunately, if you're traveling through my Labyrinth on a quest, that is, since you've accepted on their journey, flight is out of the question." the Goblin King said behind them, startling the group. He was leaning on a stone wall, his arms folded. "Unless you do decide to take an alternative--"

"So we swim across?" Danyelle frowned at the seemingly growing lake.

"No." Jareth said, surprising the group. "You walk."

"Taking the longer road then," Danyelle nodded and was ready to turn around.

"No." Jareth repeated.

"Walk on water?" Stephanie raised her eyebrows.

"Yes." an amused smile.

"Right." Stephanie said skeptically. "Jareth, we really don't have time for your games. You of all people should know that." she rubbed her forehead. "But let's say that is possible--"

"Of course it is," Jareth interrupted, almost mischievously.  
"Yes, right." Stephanie continued, disregarding one of her pet peeves. "Even if it is, how do you propose we walk on water?"

"Watch." Jareth grinned, too deep in his own mind game.

Stephanie sighed exasperated; first the bird, now the Goblin King. She almost rolled her eyes and was ready to call it quits right there and then.

Jareth moved to the edge of the stone shore, around the center of the isolated body of water. He took a step forward. Amazingly enough, he stood atop the water. From what all of them could see, his boots was slightly beneath the surface, not quite walking on water. They could see no visible walkway. Perhaps it was done with some pane of glass. Stephanie was next, followed by Danyelle and finally by Davrin. The "glass" held their weight and there were no sound of straining or cracking.

'Things aren't what they seem,' Stephanie reminded herself about the strength, gravity and appearance in the Labyrinth realm. She knew she expected too much again, she was trying to catch herself about it more.

"Do not wander too close to the edges." Jareth informed of the drop off, stepping to the sides a way and indicating with a boot by splashing the water lightly. There was enough room for two people to walk side by side, but they remained going in a single file. Stephanie frowned at her slowly soaking socks. With every step she took, water splashed onto her sandals, also it didn't help that Jareth's long strides made the water rush around their feet; Danyelle had better luck with her running shoes. She could already feel her pajama pants slowly soaking up the warm water.

"So why are you helping us?" asked Danyelle.

"Well, I have been watching your progress and I thought that you might have encountered some difficulties." Jareth replied, looking over his shoulder.

"Isn't that against the rules?" Stephanie said.

"Yes. But I am able to bend the rules for certain exceptions." he cleared his throat.

"Ah." Stephanie replied. "But that doesn't explain why you're 'actually' helping us instead of just telling us how."

The Goblin King seemed to stop at this remark with an intrigued sound in his throat. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. He took a few steps forward and then pointed to Stephanie. "Spending too many misadventures has gotten me used to 'joining' in the expedition." With that, he turned around and continued down the path. "I'm only helping you until the halfway point--just to inform you--to get you used to the unseen path."

"Right." Stephanie nudged Danyelle. Her cousin giggled softly.

"At any rate," the Goblin King continued. "you should be grateful that I'm helping you out at all."

"Please," Stephanie scoffed. "You're worried that we won't make it in time."

Jareth muttered something under his breath and when the girl asked what he had said, he replied, "Nothing."

"In any case, we appreciate it." Davrin mentioned and encouraged the girls to join. Jareth nodded.  
"Thanks." said Danyelle.

"Yes." Stephanie said. "And I'm sorry." She was right but it was unnecessary to make a thing out of it.

They continued in silence. The only sound came from the lazy stirring of the water around their feet. Luckily, the water was warm and the sun helped, but wet socks were still wet socks. Stephanie was tempted to remove socks and sandals to continue barefooted; but what good will that do to her pajama pants? She wasn't going to complain--at least not aloud. She scrunched up her nose comically.

As they walked, Davrin flexed his wings to see if the injured wing was just as good as the other. It felt like he had bruised it but other than that, he seemed satisfied. He smiled when he felt Danyelle's gaze upon him. "Your feet are not getting too wet are they?" he asked.

"No, I'm good."

"Well, I'm certain you get the idea. The only way is forward." Jareth said, stopping a few feet ahead of the girls and the Sherpa. "I should return to my other duties." He nodded to them and started walking again, in a moment he would vanish, as he often did. However, that didn't happen.

"Uh, Jareth, you're still--" Stephanie started.

"Yes I know!" the Goblin King snapped, he kept his pace and didn't turn around. His shoulders had slumped in annoyance, and perhaps embarrassment.

"As long as you know," Danyelle said. Both cousins held in laughter of the mishap that the poor Goblin King was now facing. Even Davrin had difficulty keeping a smile from appearing. The group had to start running to catch up to Jareth, for he had been making progress across the invisible path in his silent fury. Now that the Goblin King was stranded with them, they had more chance of making it in time and not worry about the consequences.

"This is ridiculous!" Jareth was muttering to himself. "There shouldn't be a way for me to be trapped here with them. It's my bloody kingdom!" he spun around so quickly that he made Stephanie back away, his finger inches from her face. "This is all your doing!" he pointed to Stephanie. "And you--" he turned to Danyelle. He made a sound in his throat, a mix between a growl and a frustrated sigh. He was half-angry with himself trying to find someone to blame over something he had no control over after all.

"If you're so annoyed with us, why don't you fly home?" Stephanie suggested when he had started to pace.

"Believe me I would have. I cannot." he countered. "I do not have my ability to teleport nor to transform into my other form. However, I still have my powers."

"Well then, you'll just have to put up with us now, don't you?"

"Hmph"  
"Anyway," started Danyelle. "We can stand here all day and bitch, or we can get to the castle; your choice."

"Very well." Jareth replied and uncrossed his arms. After all, the girl was right. The sun continued to shine brightly upon the extended group.

"Hey Jare?" Stephanie approached the Goblin King.

"Yes?"

"I don't understand why you can't get back to the castle and why you're not able to use your powers to their extent, it's not because of this wish is it? Because I thought you had taken precautions since the past two takeovers."

"Apparently, I had thought the same. All for naught." he waved his hand slightly. "I have more pressing matters than to have another trek through my Labyrinth." he grumbled.

"So it's a conspiracy against our poor Goblin King." the nineteen-year old smirked.

"It would appear to be so," he replied. "So much in fact that--" It looked like that the Goblin King had tripped, but in reality, there was nothing to put his next step as though the platform had simply vanished ahead. He lost his balance in the unexpected circumstances; he twisted so that he started to fall backwards before Stephanie felt a tug on her shirt at her waist.

"Eh?" was all Stephanie uttered before falling sideways over the invisible platform with the Goblin King.

Splash!

Danyelle and Davrin quickly rushed over, wary of the hidden drop off.

Two coughing figures broke through the surface. Water dripped from their hair, Jareth's was already spiky to begin with and remained almost unperturbed. His face was expressionless but quite readable at this point; the day couldn't get any worse, but indeed it can and he knew it. He wondered if he shouldn't even bother getting out of the water.

Stephanie was next to him. She burped softly, having swallowed the water. "Was it really necessary to grab me in the process?" she asked; her white socks felt strange in her sandals as she kicked her feet. Her long dark hair clung to her neck and face.

"It was purely reflexes," Jareth replied as he continued to wade above the water; the sound of tiny waves rushed with every movement they made.

"Oh! Like that's a good reason." she snorted. "Didn't you say once that you were more agile than that?" she pushed her bangs slightly from her eyes, and turned to him now that she was no longer blind.

"I do not recall saying anything in that particular sense." he shot back.

"Steph, are you okay?" her cousin asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Stephanie turned around to look up. She made her way, hands out to make sure she wouldn't bump into the platform. Danyelle offered her hand to help her up, Davrin grabbed her other hand. Her clothes dripped upon the watery floor. She wringed out her hair as Davrin and Danyelle helped the Goblin King onto the platform as well.

"I believe our pathway is gone." Davrin informed, he had knelt to search around in the water. Jareth agreed.

"So what now?" Stephanie crossed her arms, she was shivering slightly. "We just go back and pick another way?"

"We cannot go back," Jareth said. Droplets of water continued to run down his face and into his high-collared coat.

"You're not serious!" Danyelle exclaimed.

"As you can see, I am quite serious." he gestured with a hand to the surroundings. Davrin confirmed the King's statement. They were stranded on a platform no larger than a small dock.

"Well that's just f--"

"Dani!" Stephanie interrupted. Danyelle snorted for not having completing her profanity. "Well, some suggestions would be nice," said Stephanie, turning to the group. "Other than swimming across, I see no other way."

The group was silent, thinking for any kind of solution. Jareth had started to pace to draw out his thoughts, but complaints about the water rushing around ankles made him stop.

"Isn't there always a way out of these things?" Stephanie stated. "Solving a riddle, or some way to create an exit or to find one?" With the past two adventures she had, in order to get out a tight spot or to continue was to solve a puzzle or by riddles or by any other means.

"Yes." The Goblin King agreed. "However I cannot keep track of all the puzzles and their solutions within my Labyrinth. It is difficult to remember hundred of years worth of puzzles, perhaps even overlapping each other." He shook his head. "As I've mentioned before, the Labyrinth is perpetually changing." He paused and studied the platform. "Give me a moment to refreshen my memory." He placed a hand under his chin in thought, the other arm held up his elbow.

"I think that's why we had trouble with the last brainteaser we were boxed in; the overlapping of puzzles." Stephanie mused. Danyelle nodded.

At one point, Jareth tilted his head to one side. He searched the sides of the platform and inspected almost every inch of it until he seemed satisfied before directing the group to each of the corners. "There are dials, one of each side of the corners." He said. "I will instruct you individually in which direction they need to be facing in order for us to raise the walkway." He paused. "Not to insult you, still, I'd rather take precautions and for us to take our time." He said to the girls' raised eyebrows.

Danyelle had already stuck her hand into the water, feeling to one side for the dials. She peered over the edge, she squinted through the surface but wasn't able to see them. Her fingers brushed against something. It was smooth and cool beneath her touch. It felt a little like glass, it would explain why it was almost invisible, blending seamlessly with the water surface. She continued to feel the dial; it was shaped in an odd symbol, much like a six or a nine--whichever way it was pointing. Upon further inspection, she discovered that there were intricate bumps along the odd dial, they followed its shape; there was also a second dial within the circle of the six shape. Before Danyelle could ask what they were for, Jareth knelt to her, having finished with his corner that was across from her.

"Now, what I need you to do is to tell me what direction the dial is pointing," he indicated the one she was inspecting. Danyelle informed him that it was facing downwards. "All right," Jareth said. He instructed Danyelle to turn the dial to face the desired shore. Then on the other side of the platform, the dial would be turned to point to the next corner. He moved next to Davrin and instructed him to do the same as Danyelle before heading towards Stephanie. It wasn't long before they were both arguing; mostly about Jareth kept ordering Stephanie even after she said that she understood what was needed to be done.

"For crying out loud!" Stephanie snapped. "I'm doing exactly as you've said, so back off Jare!"

Danyelle giggled at Stephanie's attempt to shoo away the Goblin King. He finally resigned and left the girl finish.

Everyone waited for something to happen. No indication that something has occured. Before anyone could ask Jareth for explanation, he told everyone about the second dial situated inside the six symbol dial. "This one is to secure the walkway onto the platform." He returned to his corner, reached into the water and fumbled with a lever--to which he then pulled.

The platform started to shake. Danyelle lost her balance but Davrin caught her before she would soak herself. A few birds from the shore flew off and disappeared in the distance. The rumbling continued along with the sound of gears whirring and then finally came to an abrupt stop with a loud clang.

They waited until the water had calmed around them before venturing a step onto the "new" walkway. Seeing Jareth's dauntless pace made Danyelle stop worrying that the walkway would crumble or disappear from beneath their feet.

It would not take them long to reach the shore with the hedge section, (14) feet at most. Again, they walked in a single file but this was due to the walkway was narrower than the original. Stephanie wondered if there were only one walkway or several, and if they would have turned the dials differently, would they have followed a different path, one that coiled and if it would lead to another part of the vast maze. She considered asking the Goblin King, but concentrated on staying in the center of path; he didn't need to be bothered by inane questions and ponderings--at least not for a while yet.

The water sloshed around their feet with their hurried pace; they wanted to be off the water and onto solid and dry land. Sand clung to the soles of their footwear and collected into small clumps under and between the treads, and onto the girls' pants as they stepped onto the shore. There was a small path that led into the hedge section. There were more trees scattered about and the houses became more scarce.

It was not long before the trio followed the Goblin King, choosing pathways that the hedge maze offered. The green foliage walls were just as tall as the stone structures. Again, Jareth would lead them down the right path, but a few times he had actually stopped in his tracks as though confused or his surroundings. Had he really lost his senses or was it because the two realms continued to merge?

* * *

Note:

Well, I wanted to post this up once Dani reads it and adds things to it but I'm getting impatient. -le sigh- I hope she gets to read to read it soon and add her parts, cause chapter 8 is just getting longer and longer. She's moving soon, so can't say exactly when she'll even glance at the fanfiction. I'll try to remind her, maybe if she prints out the chapters we've worked on, she'll get some ideas. Sorry for the ramble, just letting you know that it will be a long while before chapter 7 is corrected and chapter 8 posted up.

Thank you for your patience.


	8. Bad Luck

**Chapter Eight: Bad Luck**

* * *

Stephanie spat out a leaf. "Well that was fun," she had a smear across her cheek.

"Indeed," Jareth rolled his eyes and returned to scratch at the sap that clung to his coat.

"For sure, let's do that again," said Danyelle, making Jareth look up from his task, almost appalled to the agreement.

"You are not truly serious?" Davrin asked sincerely.

"Nah," Danyelle smiled. She was busily picking out leaves from her hair and visor.

"Oh, that's a relief,"

"You're telling me," Jareth said. He sighed and finally gave up removing the tree's sap.

They wandered around in another hedge section of the maze before coming across a stone wall with three wooden doors. There were no doorknockers, only metal handles; the one you press to unlock in order to open. Jareth glanced around his surroundings; again using the castle as an anchor. He was silently strategizing his next move.

"If I remember correctly," he mused. "and the transition was not overly done," he came closer to the doors. "That would mean that this one should lead up towards the castle with less eventful episodes." Pressing on the latch, he opened the left door; he then took a glance behind the door and around the entrance before heading through the opening.

Stephanie frowned in confusion. Usually when they would come across doors upon stone structures, it would lead them to a forest or an area full of foliage, or so she remembered; this one however, brought the group into another stone maze. It was just plain strange to her. Perhaps it was because she had never come across something like this. Corridors upon corridors stretched out in front of them. Choosing a way out of the corridors—which was like fingerprints laid side by side, overlapping each other—was confusing. There was no way to mark their progress, they had to rely on Jareth's instincts. At one point, the Goblin King stopped in his tracks, just as the section the group were in, shimmered as the Labyrinth merge more; he shuddered as the feeling increased, but just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone again and he continued unperturbed.

"What about that way?" Danyelle asked, she was looking into one of the corridors.

Jareth scratched the back of his head. His sharp canines were bared and he let out a low hissing whistle. "I suppose," he paused. "It does not seem to 'feel' it would hinder us from the correct path. The others feel strange to me, although it could be due to the merge." He rubbed his chin in thought. He then nodded and proceeded to follow Danyelle into the chosen hallway. Davrin was next and then followed by Stephanie who continued to rub the back of her right knee; she quickly picked up her pace and caught up to the others.

"Turn to your left," the Goblin King pointed out to Danyelle. "and do not venture too far ahead; I do not want to risk anyone to get lost." he finished. Or was it, he couldn't afford it? Stephanie wondered. No. That wasn't right was it? He had changed…He is on our side and not the villain, another part of her mind reminded. However, if the situation would have been different—the realms not merging—would he have made that statement? Jareth was not the villain she had placed him to be, not like before. It was true, the man was somewhat vain, a cad, egocentric, but there had been something hidden even during the first encounter; he had saved her from that fall…had gotten used to Chantal and herself, and had become friendlier, all the while never admitting it. On several occasions he did appear to keep track of their progress, or was it that the reason was it was his cure for boredom. You couldn't really tell with Jareth. She shook her head. He was an enigma, as complicated as his Labyrinth.

Stephanie approached the Goblin King, who only nodded at her presence. The group walked silently, choosing—more or less following Jareth—pathways and corridors. However, he did ask their opinion for a few decisions, which worried the rest of the group. Danyelle and Stephanie had exchanged glances.

Returning from a dead end, Stephanie asked about his procedure of keeping the town out. "I've prevented them to pass over the entrance walls," the Goblin King said. "they can never get to the other side, even if they did manage, they would either bounce back or stay within the same corridor in a loop."

"At least that keeps them occupied," she paused. "What are you planning to do with everyone's memories once all this is resolved??"

"As much as I might enjoy the publicity that I will be receiving after this, however, I shall be erasing their memories of this…situation." The Goblin King replied.

"How are you going to keep track of all the witnesses?" Danyelle asked.

"It will be difficult, I must admit, I might not be able to find them all,"

"That's going to be a task and a half," Stephanie muttered with a nod.

"Indeed," he nodded with a weary sigh. "There is not much I can do about it. I do have limits in your realm—even if mine is currently here."

They turned another corner and came to another dead end. Wary, the group remained close to the doorway as possible; they didn't want to experience the same event they had encountered. Jareth however, made his way across to the wall in front of them. He examined high on the wall. He reached up, trailing his fingers against the rough surface until he felt deeply grooved letters; he smiled. "Ah here's one," he mumbled.

"Give me a hand," he gestured for Davrin and the girls to approach. He started pushing upon the wall—they grunted with their effort—and with their help, it inched slowly away from the connecting wall. They pushed the door ahead of them, it was aligned by a groove in the middle of the stone network; it made a dead end for the next corridor.

Tired and panting, they stepped into the new corridor, this one also displayed many twists and turns, from what they could see there were a few hedge walls in a few of the hallways. The water bottles were passed around the group as they continued more slowly and deeper into the maze.

The group stopped in front of a tall cliff, it towered over them. A winding path seemed etched along the precipice's face, between the mountain and a section that had separated from it—perhaps from the merge, the earthquakes or due to natural causes. It stretched so high that it was impossible to see the top, the sun also prevented them to do anymore than squint.

"Don't tell me that we're going to climb that!" Danyelle exclaimed.

"All right, we won't." Jareth said.

Danyelle breathed out in relief. Her smile disappeared when she saw the Goblin King had started to climb up the path. A few sections had natural formed steps to help in the climb. "But you said—"

"I only agreed not to tell you that we are climbing," he replied, not stopping his progress.

Danyelle frowned.

"There are no other ways. I am not going to retrace my steps to find another; besides, this route is shorter."

"How do you figure?" mumbled Danyelle, taking another glance at the tall structure. Stephanie sighed wearily in agreement, but nevertheless started after Jareth; even Davrin seemed disheartened by the fore coming climb; he waited for Danyelle.

"Ready?" he asked.

"I guess," replied Danyelle and followed suite the King up the crevice. She didn't expect to climb, well not a cliff anyway; heck, she didn't expect to even have an eventful day, let alone a go through a maze, one as vast as this; her legs felt tired just by looking at the rock's face.

"Gods!! I didn't think I would be climbing today," Stephanie voiced her cousin's thoughts. She tried to get some traction with her sandals; the path had gone steeper uphill. It was starting to become a difficult climb; the path was almost smooth, the sand barely helped the group up the hill as though worn—the steps has also been worn by weather, there were no hint that it was by travels. It came to a point that the group had to more or less go upon all fours. Jareth was grumbling in his annoyance, pushing his coat from his way before he would trip. His boots didn't have much traction either, for the soles were worn, perhaps they were his favorite pair. The hill was getting so steep that they also edged closer to the cliff to grab hold of the walls to pull themselves up and not slip and fall down the mountain.

Stephanie's foot slipped and she didn't have the time to grab better hold of the rock wall. "Ah crap!!" she uttered. Her fingers received tiny slices from the sharp wall; she did manage to grab the end of Jareth's coat before sliding down the slope. He also lost his footing and slid; the way he bounced when he hit a bump, brought them both tumbling down the slope. Danyelle and Davrin were knocked over, as they had no warning, nor any room to move out of the way in time.

The nineteen-year old and the King tumbled one last time and slid to a stop halfway down the slope. Jareth sat up with a groan and rubbed the back of his head; he then wiped at the scrape that was on one side of his chin, frowned and shook out the sand from his clothes and hair.

"Are you okay?" Danyelle called out. Jareth waved in reply, almost apathetically.

Stephanie hissed in a breath as she inspected a large scrape on her elbow. She tried to brush some of the tiny rocks that clung to the broken skin—she almost felt ill—it was the only big injury they sustained other than a few small cuts and scrapes that covered the girl's arms and legs.

"For bloody hell Stephanie!" the Goblin King snapped as he got to his feet.

"I'm sorry!!" she apologized as she herself stood. "I haven't done it on purpose." She looked up from her elbow. Jareth opened his mouth to admonish her some more or to say a curt remark, but he nodded instead, then followed her as they started their climb.

"We shall meet you near the top." He called to Davrin and Danyelle. Davrin gave them a wave in understanding.

"Shall we?" Davrin asked the girl.

"Yeah," Danyelle finished brushing off the dirt from her pants. They resumed their trek up the cliff. It did not take them long to reach the top of the slope, however, they did have to continue around the next peak. Danyelle glanced back to see how her cousin was doing; both Jareth and Stephanie—who had pieces of her pants she ripped around her hands—were climbing the steep hill using the same method as before. "She should have found some better shoes," mused Danyelle. She did smile a little at how amusing it was to see them tumble, but she knew it would have been dangerous if they had slid more where the crevice was open at the ledge. She was certain that they had a few wounds—she herself had a bruise that would certainly appear before the adventure was done, on her backside.

"I wonder if it would have made a difference," Davrin countered. "The slope was steep, even I had trouble and our footwear are made for slippery mountain surfaces. We—I did live by a few mountains," his look again took to sadness, he lowered his eyes. "I would like to find out what had really happened," he said sadly. Danyelle gave his hand a squeeze.

O

Stephanie and Jareth arrived at the halfway point of the mountain, and were now taking a short break before continuing upwards.

"I could use some of the water Danyelle is carrying," Jareth said, standing upright with a stretch. Stephanie nodded; her tongue seemed to stick to the roof of her mouth. Looking up to the two waiting figures—one with water—gave her a little more determination to continue. She almost laughed aloud at the reason. She passed the Goblin King, tapping his shoulder to let him know it was time to go and stated to the climb up the slope. She would rather be walking through the vast maze or even give her brain a workout, than do any of this hard exercise. Her muscles ached. At least they weren't climbing the side of the cliff…yet. Why did they have to climb a cliff in order to get on the right path? Wouldn't there be other ways from a starting point? The trail on the next slope wasn't as steep, which she was rather glad of, it just went around the structure. It was easier, much easier. It took them a few more minutes to finally join Davrin and Danyelle.

The group was standing in front of a barricaded path, there was no way under or over the door, or even at the side where the walls were just as sharp. Stephanie peered over the edge, it wasn't too high that they could see the whole town. She did see that a path did disappear inside the mountain, but no pathways after that. True, they had went around the structure and had not encountered any other path than the one they had been on—again nothing is as what is seems.

Beside the doorway, protruded from the wall, was a tray placed near the edge of the cliff. It was hollow, about an inch deep and made out of wood; it contained several stone pieces, elongated to about the size of fingers. On the wall above the tray, was some sort of diagram. Each took their turns to inspect the pieces, not daring to touch them lest some form of consequence should occur. Did the loose pieces had to be removed or put together in order to open the door? The puzzle looked complicated. The group in exasperation, turned to Jareth questioningly, none knew how to start. He approached the try and poked at the pieces, mumbling to himself, and then looked at the chart.

"Exchanging the pieces, I believe, to put the right key here," he pointed to a slot near the doorway, which was already occupied. "This diagram is supposed to give us a hint to find the right one," he paused. He squinted at the wall and almost sighed. "I do not remember this one,"

"That's great," Danyelle said, dropping the bag with a loud rough thump. Jareth brushed off the sand that had collected into the grooves of the etched chart; the letters were nearly rubbed out from the weather, it was quite unreadable.

"Damn it all," the Goblin King cursed. He half muttered under his breath as he read the parts that were visible; he then went back to the tray and continued to prod at the pieces, they made a pleasant sound as they scraped against the wood.

Davrin was inspecting the slot to see if there were any way to remove the piece that was currently jammed into it, there was a crack barely big enough for a finger to pass. "Suppose, I should reach and take it out?" he mused.

"I wouldn't," Jareth countered. "At least, not until we are certain what it is that we must do. You never know what might happen if you do. Who knows if there is a trap or some form of creature living in the darkness of the walls," he glanced at a few pieces; he nodded to several that were obviously not going to fit. "From what I've managed to decipher, the six pieces here could possibly be the right key." In the tray—as the group advanced—four oddly shaped keys had ends were pushed aside. The remaining elongated keys had no ends, these they would not be able to pull them out if they were wrong, at least not without difficulty.

"Hey uh Jareth," Danyelle started.

"Yes?"

"What happens if we do choose the wrong key?"

"There are a few of the Labyrinth's puzzles that have consequences for solving wrongly; it is difficult to say for this one, our doorway might vanish if we choose incorrectly." He grabbed the three loose pieces. He explained his theory of the three long keys.

"You might be right, but—" Stephanie said.

"However, what if," Davrin interrupted. "they are actually the right ones? There would be no use to pull them out if they are, and the doorway will be open indefinitely." They mulled it over for a few minutes; Jareth holding the keys in one gloved hand, out in the center of the circle they made. After much consideration, they went with Davrin's theory. Without indifference, Jareth threw the four key pieces over his shoulder. The three keys were scrutinized to see any differences; the only thing was a tiny groove along one side of each key, the pieces within the tray had no grooves and by Jareth's statement that they were properly taken out of the choices with the instructions from the board. Stephanie picked up a key from Jareth's hand and inspected it—or rather doing anything but just sitting there guessing—she ran her finger against the groove.

"So basically we have to guess," she frowned.

"I'm afraid so," Jareth nodded.

"So what do we do? Pick straws. Rock, paper, scissors?"

The Goblin King raised an eyebrow at Danyelle. "I'm not putting my realm at stake by a game of chance; at least speculating which key has some thoughtful deliberation," he crossed his arms, hiding the pieces in his palm.

"Well doesn't the board say anything about the remaining pieces?" asked Danyelle.

"Nothing, other than 'a winding road,'" he shrugged. "It is all I can make out."

"Let me see the keys," she said. He held out his hand towards her again. All the pieces had the grooves facing the sky. After a moment, Danyelle chose a piece and no one objected by the decision; they had to decide and having no clue would only keep them longer.

Danyelle got up and headed towards the doorway. The rest of the group slowly got up, waiting for the girl to do the honors.

"Wait a minute Jareth," Stephanie said, stopping him from throwing the last two pieces. She squinted harder and closely, all of them had a straight groove, no curves to suggest "a winding road". That could only mean—

"Dani!! No!!" Stephanie yelled, running towards the girl. She stopped beside her cousin, picked up the key that she had thrown away, and tried to remove the piece her cousin had placed. She cursed under her breath when she couldn't remove the piece.

"But see, nothing's happening." Danyelle replied. It was true; nothing moved and Stephanie remembered that a usually long pause—which was the same result as saying "It's a piece of cake"—would result in something horrible happening.

Still nothing.

Stephanie was finally able to remove the piece and place back the original key with a squiggle for a groove. She gave a last look at it and sighed, relieved and satisfied that all was in order. "It was a trick puzzle,"

"Now that is done and over with, can we please continue?" the Goblin King said as he started down the path. The gate had opened up and revealed their new pathway. Stephanie rolled her eyes to Danyelle.

"Come on," she urged Danyelle and took a few steps forward.

Suddenly there was the sound of crumbling. A crack appeared and trailed between the girls, split into spider web patterns. The girls looked at each other, eyes wide.

"Shit!" Danyelle yelled.

"Pasta Vazoo!!" her cousin managed as the ground under them broke. The girls screamed as they fell.

A hand grabbed Danyelle's wrist. The girl looked up.

The Goblin King quickly pulled her up and tossed her to a solid edge, nearly landing on Davrin. She landed with a thump. It was too late to grab Stephanie.

"Bloody hell!" Jareth cursed, he peered over the ledge. A crystal appeared in his hand—he was still able to produce magyk—he gripped it and threw it down the cliff, towards the falling figure below.

O

Stephanie had stopped screaming. The rushing air made it difficult to breathe and she concentrated to save herself by trying to wake her powers. She didn't feel any electric static or any other feeling that always followed when her aura surrounded her. It was still too early to even rouse them. She fell at incredible speed, the ground neared every second.

Stephanie gasped. She was heading head first to the ground. She couldn't close her eyes on her impeding doom.

Suddenly, inches from the ground, she stopped in mid air. Her pendant swung and her long hair brushed against the ground.

She blinked.

She let out a sigh of relief. She placed her hands on the ground and was about to do the same with her feet, but whatever barrier Jareth had created, vanished and her knees hit the ground; better to have bruised knees than all her bones broken.

The damage from the cliff was scattered everywhere and from what she could tell, boulders blocked the path; there was no way to climb them and no way around—the rest of the group however, would be able to continue immediately.

"Crud," Stephanie mumbled. She waved to the group to show that she was unharmed and turned around to pick a path amongst the ruble, she managed to reach a corridor where her lone trek was about to begin. "At least I'm not in an oubliette,"

O

"Where is she going?" Danyelle asked, suddenly frantic.

"There is no way she can reach the intended path, she will have to find another way and journey on her own until she meets with us again." The Goblin King replied as he slowly climbed over a boulder that half covered the path, he held out his hand to help her up and over the ruble, he then helped Davrin.

"What happens if she doesn't meet us?"

"Then whoever reaches the castle first, must solve the situation before it becomes permanent." He said as he jumped down and landed smoothly on his feet.

Jareth squinted as the flame of the torch he held rose, the dry cloth burned with a crisp noise. The oily rag had given a moldy smell, smoke rose before finally fading in the air. He almost seemed unperturbed by it, whereas Danyelle had wrinkled her nose. Even if the entrance into the mountain brought in daylight from the outside, they took no chances and had taken the torch that was by the entrance.

Inside the cavern, the torch burned brightly. Even in the darkness, they could see a path and there was enough room for the group to pass all at once. The sound of their footsteps reverberated off the walls. The darkness was so profound that it was alleged that creatures stirred about, hidden in shadows from the harmful glow, staring, leering, perhaps waiting for their move. Every movement that Jareth made as he looked around, made the flames streak into the dark; it was a wonder how his long wild hair didn't catch.

"Are there any creatures living here?" asked Danyelle, peering into the dark corners. She hoped that if she knew what kind of creatures—hopefully minuscule and harmless—dwelled in the shadows, she wouldn't fear them but the jagged shaped of stalagmites provoked the imagination.

"There might be nothing larger than a rat," Jareth replied without turning, concentrating in the dark. Danyelle was not convinced. There were a few scuffling noises around them, but the creatures seemed more wary to avoid them than to confront them; even though, she neared Davrin, almost stepping on his heels.

Light shone upon the path ahead. That encouraged the group to move faster. The warm sun washed upon them, which made them all smile—at least they could see Jareth's mood lighten, he didn't have the habit to express emotions upfront. Jareth snuffed out the torch in the sand and placed it in a holder located at the entrance, or in this case, exit.

They were outside, yes, but they were still halfway down the cliff. The path continued around the cliff, making them second-guess if it would lead them to another, quicker, path or back inside the mountain. At the height they were, there were no signs of lost travelers; however, they could barely make out the tiny figure of Stephanie, going deeper into the Labyrinth.

Jareth had actually stopped a minute to survey the girl's progress. "She is doing well," he mused. The last time he watched her venture through his Labyrinth was when she and Chantal had first arrived to his realm; even then, her progress had been…remarkable. He could just visualize her now; sighing, mumbling to herself, all the while with a secret smile upon her features; he didn't need to glimpse into a crystal. He watched her until her form disappeared into the layers of his main attraction. The Goblin King made his way past the two figures who sat upon a rock structure, taking a small rest. He declined the offer of water with a shake of his head.

"Do you think we should have given her supplies?" Stephanie's cousin asked.

"I'm sure she'll be fine without them," Jareth replied. "Besides, how were we able to send them to her?"

"Well, I thought you would have, you know, with your magic."

"Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Transportation by oneself, yes, but not to send objects."

"Why not give them yourself?"

"The same reason why I cannot go home."

"Oh."

Jareth smiled a little. "Even if Stephanie is making wonderful progress, I don't think it means for us to dawdle."

"Yes." Davrin agreed, rising to his feet. "Your cousin will be alright, especially if she has done this before," he winked.

"Okay," Danyelle said. "I suppose you're right." She packed up everything again. "Anyways, it's not like we'll be here for days."

"Perish the thought." Jareth mumbled, a few feet ahead of them.

"We're lost aren't we?"

The Goblin King frowned at Danyelle. "We are not." He said. "Deterred or even maybe nonplussed, mislaid, but not lost."

'It's the same thing,' Danyelle thought.

He knew he was lost—his pride made sure of that—his senses were just confused with the merge. It was difficult to concentrate. He wondered, if bad comes to worse, would he be trapped to be as vulnerable as—ugh—a mortal. He almost shuddered at the thought and quickly dismissed the idea. He took another moment to clear his mind, trying to remember and to get a feel for the correct path; after all, how mortifying would it be if the Goblin King was lost in his own Labyrinth?

"We are not lost," Jareth repeated, more or less telling himself. Before anyone could remark the opposite, he chose a path to start their journey into the maze again. As they walked, Jareth had contacted the few goblins in charge within his castle to take over duties, only informing that he will be indisposed until further notice.

"But Sire—" the goblin started.

"If the situation changes, contact me at once," Jareth ignored with expertise. He turned the crystal to contact a few more goblins with their own assignments; all the while, never wavered from picking pathways, only glancing up to see where he was going. "Never mind that!" he barked into the sphere, making Danyelle jump. "Do as I tell you and it will be fine." He sighed. Lately he has been thinking of hiring different kind of help. Another sigh and the image within the crystal disappeared. He proceeded to juggle the crystal—coming to him like second nature—as he pondered possibilities of hired help, the situation at hand, and how to solve it once he reached the castle. He ran out of ideas and soon listened to Danyelle and Davrin's conversation, taking heed not to look like he was eavesdropping.

"The Labyrinth is not populated by infants." He replied to one certain wondering question. He continued when there were no remarks about his interruption. "Goblins do not originate by stolen children, at least not all of them."

"Do you ever get strange wishes?" asked Danyelle.

"This one is a first," Jareth half smirked. "Countless beings wished for someone to be taken away, even themselves. I do not always answer every call. Most of the time it's only to have an adventure thought my Labyrinth." He frowned. "They soon find out however, that it's not just a game."

Danyelle stared intently at the Goblin King. "What happens to them?"

"The child becomes a goblin, free to roam or serve me in years to come." He paused. "The others however, having no use for them, I send them home, or they remain here if they wish it so. I do not change them all into goblins."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad."

"They find out that it's not always a fairytale here. They don't live forever as they presumed, nor have powers, or any other expectations they might have."

"I see."

"The few who do return here—not the ones who wanted a second chance— are imprinted so deeply that they are able to return on their own." He stopped juggling the crystal. "For you see, when the realm's magyk touches a person, it leaves a mark; like you for example, are marked as well. The moment you leave the Underground, you take a piece of its magyk with you, afterwards you might be able to return on your own will." he paused again. "I suppose there are exceptions like Stephanie; not only has the Underground deeply marked her, but deemed her as suitable for its magyk." He finished.

O

Stephanie glanced in one direction. "No, that wasn't right," she frowned. She scrutinized the walls, dreading to find a familiar pattern of fallen bricks, the placement of a vine draping over a ledge or even a missing chink in a corner. She had backtracked when she reached a dead end; she didn't think she would get this lost. A sigh escaped from her, she was wishing she had some form of marker; it would help a little, that is, if there weren't any Brickkeepers ready to hinder her progress.

She stood on tiptoe to try to locate Jareth's castle. From where she was, it seemed really far, the Goblin City Gates partly hid the structure.

"All right," she peered around a corner, trying to see what options she had. Three passageways were in one way, and two in the other. She had to think like Jareth…but once she thought about it, he didn't designed the Labyrinth—or so she concluded—only the traps and detours to discourage the travelers; so she had to second guess and trust her instincts. Once she settled on which way to go, she chose the corridor on her right; she was convinced that the center one was too obvious.

She walked a ways before encountering another trio of corridors. She took the center, this one also brought her to another set, right, right and then left. She then came across—

A dead end.

"Damn," she muttered and turned around but something caught her eye.

Hidden in a corner, was an obelisk about in diameter made out of stone, it had several levers scattered on all four sides; a few of them were marked with strips of yellowing cloth wrapped around the handles. She wasn't sure if the cloth was there as marks to take heed or if they were marked for a way out, leading her to another passageway.

She made her way towards the pillar to closer inspect it, maybe there was a note from a previous traveler or even a riddle to help her out; she hated guessing.

At this moment, it didn't seem she had a choice. She sighed. Out of the marked levers, a few of the strips had unraveled and looked more used. That made her think. It could open up an oubliette. Who knew how many people took the certain handles. She held onto the structure as she deliberated to choose a marked lever. The sound of gears groaning echoed around her; after that, nothing much happened. She glanced around, hoping to see something, anything. But when nothing happened, a look of confusion came across her face. She then stood on tiptoe to reach an unmarked handle. Inside the walls, gears protested from misuse, she followed the sound behind the wall without moving from her spot.

She let out a short yelp. Holding onto the handle, her feet dangled over the trap door. She reached over to grab hold of another lever, it came down with her weight. The trap door didn't close up when she left the handle and she hoped that the one she had just pulled wouldn't open the floor any more or bring upon her another setback. Back on her feet, she balanced and made her way around the structure and chose the lever at the bottom, hopefully this will give her better results.

The sound of stone scraping against the same foundation sounded pleasantly comforting compared to the trap door scraping. Scanning around the pillar, she noticed a new opening upon one of the walls of the dead end.

Stephanie smiled. She made her way, as quickly as possible, for fear that it would close before she got there. She did had to swing a bit before jumping over the oubliette. She landed without a problem but immediately ran towards the doorway, you never know, it could be running on some kind of timer. There wasn't much room in the opening, she had to move sideways and squeeze her way through. It also wasn't a short corridor, she actually expected to be brought at the other side of the wall. Finally on the other side, she emerged in the middle of a passageway. Trying to get her bearings—as much as you can in a maze—she resumed her task of selecting courses and corridors.

As she walked, she arranged the strips of cloth around her fingers, mostly to prevent dirt from getting into her cuts while still paying attention to where she was going. She couldn't keep track of all the corridors she took, so, it wasn't long before she gave up the idea and decided to move forward without looking back, hoping this method wouldn't lead her in a circle or more lost. She figured backtracking, unless she had no choice, would only slow her down and waste time. It was ridiculous that it was still within a time limit. But it was a wish, there wasn't any alternative. They had to follow the rules. Even the King. However, he must have some power over the rules, shouldn't he? She pondered about it for a while.

She kicked the wall as though the action would amend for all her troubles. She lost count how many puzzles and riddles she went through; pulling stones, rearrange stones, picking doors—not to mention the endless corridors in stone and hedges mazes and forests, hearing the chatter of doorknockers, picking more doors, even following arrows that were grooved into the walls. One thing that would really aggravate her now, would be the presence of that damn riddling bird. She actually marched to the opening of the dead end, hands on her hips, and waited a few minutes. Satisfied that the Fiery-like bird would not appear to ruin her day, she made her way further down the corridor and resumed her trek.

It wasn't long before she came across four doors, starting with dark brown in color and fading to a tan or sand color. "Of course!!" Stephanie mumbled. She searched around for clues so she can quickly get by another detour. She noticed that several corridors ended up in front of some doors that were situated in a cul-de-sac. She chose the second dark door, again having in her mind the idea that the first and last were too obvious, but her hand stopped short of the handle. What if the scenario was predicted and the other two doors were actually the right way?

"Oh Hell, I don't care anymore," She said in exasperation. It was too confusing just to select a door. She stuck with her original pick and turned the handle. When she met with resistance, she tried pushing harder and pulling. Confused, she tried the other doors, ending with the same result. Knocking didn't help either. "Hmm," Stephanie sat in front of the doors, contemplating a solution—and having a rest didn't hurt either. She saw no riddles, no incantations to open the doors. "It's got to be with keys," she noticed keyholes and took another moment before searching for the keys; hopefully whoever had previously used them had left them for other people after they had gone through.

She had no luck.

"Well, that was pointless," she grumbled and began deciding if she should backtrack or choose one of the other corridors. From where she was, she noticed that there was a pond. She quickly walked over, hoping that the water would be drinkable. Even surrounded by stone, the water was clear and kept clean from mildew and creatures. Having sated her thirst, she wiped her hands on her pants. She caught glimpse of something shimmering at the bottom of the pond. She squinted a bit but recognized immediately what the object was. She plunged her hands in the amazingly cool water and pulled out a set of tarnished keys. Not losing a moment, she rushed back to the doors and tried a few keys, again, still settled with her first choice.

"Nope. Not that one either," she tried four more before the sound of success echoed within the wood. She then tied the keys with the strings that held her pants up; for the pocket was torn and was useless. Stephanie had entered another hedge section. She stretched before continuing. She was a little tired and sore, it had been a while since the last trek, but she enjoyed every minute of it. It was a change of scenery and it cheered her up, showing her that she was at least farther into the vast maze. She picked a few leaves out of boredom and let them float down behind her.

She skid to a stop and with barely a thought, went through the nearest passageway. It was awkward to run with sandals; there were hardly any grips at the soles and nothing to really support the top of the foot. She kept running, not paying attention to which corridor to choose. Untrimmed branches scratched and cut at her skin.

She ran as fast as her legs would let her. She stumbled on loose bricks that littered the path. She leapt over fallen branches and tree stumps, and ducking every so often; a few more sections were more unkempt than others, unfortunately it created more obstacles for her to elude. She let out a short groan of frustration when she ran into a dead end. She turned back, stopped only a moment to listen. How near were the creatures?

This was just what she needed. Getting lost, chased by raccoon creatures. They were still in pursuit, luckily, none were seen or were close by. She wasn't even sure what she had done for them to be chasing her; unless she was trespassing, but heck she was walking in a forest, there were no way around it. She wondered if they were tracking her by scent, maybe she'd be able to hide or not. Her side was beginning to hurt. A few more corridors, she leaned against a wall and tried to catch her breath. She looked at her surroundings to see if there was any way to evade her pursuers. There were no trees, no secret passageways, or any suitable hiding places. She wasn't cruel to animals but she wanted to go back and kick these furry creatures for delaying her, especially if she hadn't done anything, at least nothing that she could remember.

She waited until her heart stopped pounding in her ears. She desperately needed a drink, her mouth was so dry. She peered around the corner, trying to catch glimpse of the creatures. There were no sign of them yet. Though that didn't mean that she should sit around any longer than she had to. With a groan, she pushed herself off the wall and started her way—again—towards the castle.

Her pace was slow and steady to give her sides a break, but occasionally would jog a few minutes and then slow back down. She was back to picking pathways again before she heard the sound of chittering. "Aww, come on you guys," Stephanie groaned, picking up her pace. This went on for a while, she would slow down to catch her breath and ease the cramp in her side that had spread, and then started off again. "Buggers," she muttered.

She flew past several grey obelisks, some with pointing hands, then went through more quick decisions, she almost collided right into a door. Having no time to solve puzzles, she hoped that it would open easily. She pushed against the wooden frame but no luck; lack of use might be the problem. "Damn it!!" She quickly moved on.

Suddenly a few of the creatures appeared and blocked a few of the corridors, forcing her to run in another direction. She wondered how they got there so fast and if she was going in circles. She ran, pursued again by these annoying little things until the ground opened up from under her feet.

A short cry later, she managed to grab hold of a ledge before falling too deep. She had rubbed against the wall inside the soft almost mossy tunnel. She managed to get a foothold and pushed herself up, digging her fingers above, between the brick's network. She struggled a bit more, her footing wasn't very great on the mossy wall. Sitting, she then rested, her feet dangling in the opening. She was lucky that she hadn't broken or sprained anything; the trap door was so sudden. Too bad you couldn't sue the Goblin King.

Not a creature was in sight. At this point she would actually kick a few for delaying her this much. At least the creatures had given up, thinking that she was lost to the oubliette. Her right shoulder was smeared with a green substance, it went down to her wrist, a little of the sticky substance was up her neck, and up to her ear as well. "That's great," she scrubbed her fingers on her pants and managed to remove some of it. She let out a sigh. The pants were beyond saving.

Another hour had passed. She was sure that she had been on her own for at least two or three hours. She hadn't encountered any puzzles or any other creatures; for that she was relieved. It let her mind think of other things. She had been wondering what would happen if the Labyrinth were to remain here? She grinned. But what of the rest of Jareth's Kingdom? Her grin faded. Would the realm emerge and rearrange itself to adapt to the girls' world? Which world would overlap and will their realm adapt to such a change, or ruin the magyk of the Goblin King's realm. As much as she wishes it to be here, fear to ruin such magyk made her more determined to reach the center and complete the quest.

As she ventured deeper into the maze, it became more elaborate; there were more obelisks, some with engravings, several sections had stairs or archways, statues ornamented sectors that held several corridors. She passed border walls that were taller than the usual walls, perhaps they divided certain sections—she had the idea that they were originally the entrance walls, but with the Labyrinth always expanding, had to become another addition. She hadn't seen any sundials, she didn't need it to tell how late it was becoming; the sun was slowly setting, it could be early evening; her stomach growled. "Yep, suppertime," she laughed. But she could worry about that later, what she should worry about was the trap she had just stumbled upon.

"Crap!!" Stephanie uttered. The walls closed in behind her. She pressed her back against the wall, in case something opened up, or trapped her or whatever was in store for her.

There was an opening and she warily made her way, staying close to the walls. It was just another dead end. Another dead end but with a board. She let out a small frustrated groan and approached it anyhow. The board was raised about knee high, stairs led her onto it for a better look. At one end of the board, was a small row of scrambled words, so far that she could see was in English. It didn't take her long to figure out how to work the board. She went through three unscrambled words, before she let go of the metal ball and placed it on one of the letters that was on the board. She would have wished that the balls—the size of cantaloupes—were already on the correct words instead of placed neatly in a box, grooved at the edge of the board, near the steps.

"Am I the only one who goes through these damn puzzles??" she placed another of the heavy balls on the letter E.

O

The rest of the group was quiet.

The last puzzle was ages ago and there were very few run-ins with creatures, and when they did, the beings didn't chase or threaten them. However, that didn't mean they had it easy; they got lost and detoured countless of times with the shift. Detoured by corridors and dead ends was one thing, but going through people's houses was interesting. The Goblin King tried very hard not to lose patience with those who refuse to let him enter. If there had been a way around he would certainly go, the merge made it impossible now. Arguments, broken hinges and a lot of misunderstanding—dishes and other objects were thrown at the unfortunate group—later, Jareth led the group through the house obstacles and out the back door. He resisted the urge to grumble aloud. But once they went through several homes, it became easier. He waited in the backyard for Danyelle and Davrin, deciding which direction to start; he took this time to gather his instincts. At times, it came to him like a large breeze, as it did now, or it would only feel like a déjà vu.

He stood in one of the corridors, but not out of sight of the others. 'This one feels right,' he thought.

A noise made him glance behind him, breaking his concentration.

"So where to now?" Danyelle asked, shifting the backpack to be comfortable upon her shoulders.

"There," Jareth pointed, slightly leaning down to the girl. "The pattern should shift by the hedges and…" he trailed off. "Well, it does not matter how it works as long as we are getting closer, am I right?" he smiled a little.

"Yah." Danyelle nodded. She was then directed to the pathway. Davrin nodded as he stepped next to the Goblin King.

"We've made excellent progress," Jareth mentioned to Davrin. "I could lie and say were almost there, but," he chuckled.

"Well, it would certainly ruin the 'fun'." Davrin laughed.

"Consider yourself fortunate," Jareth resumed his serious expression, but his tone was light. "I throw just about anything to create obstacles to daunt those who come into my Labyrinth."

"That is not very fair," Davrin commented.

"I usually don't play fair," the Goblin King replied. His appearance returned to its usual cruelness. "especially if I'm determined to win; unless I find the challenge dreary." he trailed off. There were no guarantees that creatures and traps wouldn't hurt them. But lately things have been changing and not just with people appearing like before and odd merges. Creatures either evolved or have migrated—like the poisonous tentacle tree called an Utahn, that somehow turned up in his Labyrinth and bitten Stephanie—something he didn't have any power over. The creatures have never bothered humans before. However, he did manage to keep track of certain creatures to keep them at bay; luckily, he had, for now he didn't have to worry about it particularly with this predicament. He would never let the traveler be seriously injured; this was something no one would ever know; after all, it would ruin his reputation. He enjoyed a challenge but he wasn't that merciless. There were limits.

Davrin studied Jareth. 'So this is the High King,' he thought. He hadn't realized until the girl, Stephanie, had been calling for the Goblin King. It would have been absurd to bow or show any signs of respect now. At least the King knew first hand of the recent onslaught. From what he had heard from stories and rumors of the Goblin King, he expected that the Goblin King would resemble his title and minions; the troll Lord certainly did.

Ruthless, they called Jareth. Yet, he wondered...

Davrin followed silently and soon caught up to Danyelle. He would have to see what to make of the Goblin King.

The house soon vanished behind the tall walls and the trio was picking their way, with again no puzzles—compared to jinxed Stephanie. However, it couldn't be said that nothing happened, for all of a sudden, all three of them were caught on something and before any of them could react, they were swinging in the air.

Jareth swore, it was not in English, but it was obvious that it wasn't something nice. His voice clearly rung out his annoyance—practice had made it easier to overhear over the goblins. His hair hung over his head not like in the Escher room where gravity held no bounds for him. His jacket dragged on the ground behind him as he continued to swing upside down; one ankle was bound and he was trying to keep from swinging around wildly. He stretched out his arms above his head, his palms were pressed firmly against the ground; it stabled him, so that he was able to look up to view how he was tied.

From where Danyelle and Davrin were hanging, they heard Jareth who now resorted back to English, grumbling about a name of a creature playing tricks and setting traps. Inside the net, hanging a few feet higher than Jareth, Danyelle was trying to stay still and see what was happening. One of her legs went through an opening.

"Ah you suck!" she grumbled at the net.

Davrin, who was less fortunate, had both feet tied and was also suspended upside-down. But he was able to grab hold of Danyelle's net to keep from swinging and turning around.

"Davrin," Jareth called out. He managed to turn around on his hands to face them.

"Yes 'Lord?" Davrin looked down.

"Do you perhaps a dagger? Unfortunately, I am not equipped today,"

"Yes." the Sherpa struggled to reach his boots, but managed to unsheathe a decorative dagger. It caused the net to spin around.

"I want to get off this ride," Danyelle shut her eyes. Davrin threw the dagger down. It fell inches from Jareth, digging itself into the soft earth.

Jareth started to walk a ways and swinging himself, pass the weapon a few times before he was swinging hard enough to reach his ankles easily; he grabbed the knife during a swing, quickly sliced the rope and landed on his feet with a dull thump. Slipping the dagger in his belt, he began climbing the nearest tree to the others. "Try to bring yourselves towards me for when I cut you loose, you won't fall," He looked over a branch for one suitable to hold his weight. He waited until they were ready. Even if they would fall, the landing wouldn't be too severe. Once the girl and the Sherpa were grounded, Jareth decided to jump down from the branch in time to land next to Danyelle.

"Now that this is done and over with," the Goblin King said. He turned around and ran a hand through his hair. He was now more alert for more hidden traps; in fact, he should have been ever since he had started to take part of the current adventures through his Labyrinth. He let out a sigh and tried to determine the time of day. He frowned a little, he wanted to avoid forest areas before nightfall.

"Ready to go?" Danyelle asked.

"Yes."

The group chose a suitable path and walked silently again, they were more or less tired and weren't very talkative. Jareth was strategizing a way to prevent this sort of situation to happen again, though he had been taking precautions ever since he had met Stephanie and Chantal. He made several mental notes of certain matters to look into.

Danyelle suddenly tripped over something. Luckily, it wasn't another trap, however, it did sound that it had triggered something nearby.

"I do hope that was not our way out," commented Davrin.

"Unlikely," Jareth stated. He was looking in the same direction as the Sherpa. "We would have known by now." He turned to him. "Come," he said. "Let us continue," he gestured to the tiny group. "It's going to be night soon and the Labyrinth is quite different than what Stephanie went through." He started off.

"What do you mean?" Danyelle caught up to Jareth.

"Well, different time of day for one thing," Jareth explained. "therefore nocturnal creatures will come out. However, that doesn't mean that they will actually delay us,"

"Oh."

* * *

O O O

Okay, I know it's been a long while and this chapter is not quite completed. ; Yeah I know I'm sorry, but I felt like posting it for now. I'm not sure when we'll ever come back to it. Right now I'm working on the next part until it is suitable to ask Danyelle to return to the story; life has taken over and she has other things on her mind right now.

Thank you for being patient with us.


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